Twisting Threads: Two's Company
by Holly Chase
Summary: Luke and Thalia: whose names are so often intertwined. Welcome to the lives of the iconic Hunter and the misunderstood antagonist of the Percy Jackson series; because nobody really knows what they were like, back before Kronos and when to each of them, the other was the world. Was previously called; Twisting Threads: Finding Home.
1. The Runaways

_Finding Home_

_Chapter One: The Runaways_

Luke wrapped his trembling fingers tightly around the knob of his door. It shook in his hands, something was coming up the stairs, _she_ was coming up the stairs.

"_Luke…_ no… _not my son's fate…"_ Her rasping voice echoed across the corridor, under the door and into his head. It drilled through his skull, his head hurt; and there were circles in front of his eyes, pulsing and blue. His hands shook, and he screwed up his forehead, _maybe if he kept really quiet_, but no, his mother had long since found where he hid.

There was a scratching noise on the other side of the door.

"_No_… not _Luke_," he shivered and gripped the handle tighter, "_Not my son_… Hermes_, his fate_…" The rattling began, the knob almost vibrated out of his hands, but he held on grimly. The nine year olds eyes frantically scanned the room. _There! _He used one hand to locate the key, using his body weight to keep the door from being flung open. His bedroom key was shoved unceremoniously into the lock. He heard the click, let the key fall and shoved a chair underneath the handle.

Luke took a step backwards, studying his defences critically. He bent to pick up the key, when he gasped.

Two glowing green eyes were observing him from under the door. They peered at him, almost curiously and then;

"_Luke," _he flinched and grabbed some rope (because, he never knew when he might have to make a break for it) from his bed. He wrapped it around the handle and tied one end to his bed and the other to his window. Now there was no way for her to crack the handle even a centimetre.

Satisfied, he turned to his wardrobe, his sanctuary, and curled up inside. Drawing the blankets up over his head he popped in his MP3 and turned up the volume so loud that it made his spin and the pulsing blue lights shimmer in an elaborate swirl, which seemed to spin in and out of patterns, faces and shapes.

He sighed, the banging on his door resumed, but he relaxed in his safe-house, because he _knew _that she couldn't get to him when he was in here.

His eyes fluttered closed, the luminosities changed from light blue to dark, then indigo and back, turquoise and green then blue. Then suddenly, there was a flash of electric blue, his music faded out and the two palpitating electric blue spheres faded into a face. Thin and pale, with a grin and a spray of freckles, her lips were chapped and raw. Her black hair was blown about her face, as if a strong gust of wind was constantly raging, it was greasy and cut short. She was smiling, in a freeze-frame. Like a picture, caught whilst she was in mid-laugh. Her eyes were electric blue.

She was beautiful, but dangerous. Like a wild animal.

Luke's brow creased in confusion, and she was gone. The music swam back into reality, the banging returned. He focused on the lyrics

_I will answer to the call,_

_I take my stand._

The battering stopped and a desperate voice rang out, Luke knew what she would say and remained exactly where he was. Eventually he heard footsteps creaking away from his door and the muffled sounds of sobbing. He briefly felt guilty, but it soon was swept away.

Luke cautiously poked his head out of the cupboard and raked his gaze, along the width of the door. Deeming the danger zone safe –for now- he tiptoed towards the window. On the way, he glanced for a second at the picture of his father, Hermes – in the Greek God sense - and an old hand-drawn picture of a house with seven trees in a huge garden, a pond with fish and a family standing in front. A woman was smiling with blond hair and blue eyes, a man with a crooked grin, curly hair and wings on his sandals with one arm around both of the other members of the group. And there before them with a kinked grin on his face, gleaming blue eyes and up-turned nose, looking up at his parents was him, Luke.

His family the way it should have been, a mum, a dad and him. Maybe even a younger sibling, Luke loved small children. He tore his gaze from the picture as his hands touched the sill.

_Thalia&Luke_

Thalia's hands shook, her foot throbbed and her head ached. But worse than that was the pain in her heart.

_How could she_, _how _could _she? _He was her son, and she had just given him away. He could be hurt, he could be _dead_! But did she care? No!

A photograph was stood on her desk; Thalia stopped and stared at it for a long moment. Three people, she with her choppy black hair grinning with a gap tooth, Jason blue eyes filled with happiness and hands wrapped around her neck in a bear-hug and there, with her arms around both of them stood her mother, sober for once, smiling brightly at the camera. All three of them.

With a roar of frustration and anger the seven year old hurled the picture at the opposite wall with so much dynamism; it was surprising it didn't go through the wall. The frame smashed, the glass shattered and the picture tore. Thalia edged towards the ruins on the floor and abruptly stopped. Jason was alone, on a ripped edge of paper. Thalia and their mother were still together, arms around each other. But something was different, their expressions, Thalia's smile seemed slightly more forced and Mrs Grace had a marginally more pronounced frown. Thalia howled again.

Nothing seemed right without Jason.

No, nothing was ever right, but now it wasn't even bearable.

She took a deep breath, there was nothing here for her now, the monsters would follow her whatever, and life might even be easier on the run.

There was only one way to find out.

_Thalia&Luke_

Luke shut his eyes tight, counting. _One, two, three, four-_

"Luke darling, it's time for school!" The nine year old sighed and hopped out of bed. She was lucid, which was only going to make this harder. Reaching for his back-pack he stroked the soft material like a cat.

It was a calming sensation, he realized, like patting a real cat, except it didn't purr or scratch. His pre-packed school bag was now filled with everything he would need, for a while anyway, his text books hidden under his bed between timeworn hand-made father's day gifts.

He pulled on his jacket and shoved his feet into his sneakers. Holding onto his lifeline in both hands he descended from the upper floor of the house to the kitchen.

May Castellan was humming tunelessly along to the radio. She turned, beaming as her son entered the room hesitantly.

"Darling," she propelled him towards his usual place at the table and started to layer pancakes, waffles and eggs onto his plate. "Good dreams?" she asked absently, frowning as the frying pan started smoking.

"Hmm…" Luke shrugged; he hadn't really slept, more like drifted in and out of consciousness. Needless to say, there had been no dreams.

"That's nice dear," May sighed loudly as she emptied out the smouldering frying pan into the bin. She stood up straight and brushed her fine blond hair back from her face. Then she smiled at Luke and looked up at the clock above his head. "Oh, goodness, is that the time already? Eat up Luke, can't be late on your first day back!"

She bustled around the kitchen scraping his plate still talking about how much she would miss having him around and _not_ to insult _all _his teachers first thing –an enjoyable pastime of his.

She half shoved him to the door where she put her arms around him. "Come back for lunch okay? I'll have peanut butter and Kool-Aid."

"Of course Mom, I'll see you soon," Luke buried his face in her arms; "Bye Mom, love you…" his voice broke. "I-I'll be back for lunch."

May giggled and cupped his face in her hand, "of course you love me and I love you too. See you soon."

Then as though possessed she tightened her grip on him, her voiced rasped and her eyes glowed, "No, _no_, Luke don't go, don't run!" She shook him desperation rising.

And she watched wailing as her nine year old son tore himself out of her grasp and run down the path, out of the gate and onto the street. Across the road and out of sight, she collapsed on the step of her porch and that was how her neighbour found her on his way home from work.

_Thalia&Luke_

She rushed around the room, stuffing different objects into her bag, then taking them out again, then deciding on not taking something at the bottom and pouring everything onto the bed.

For a second she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. This was more stressful then she had thought it would be. Then there was a face, for a second she thought it was her brother's face, maybe it was what he would look like when he grew older, she would never know now.

Then she noticed some differences, this boy, whilst he had blond hair and blue eyes, he had slightly icier irises and his lips bowed into more of a curve. His hair needed cutting, and washing and possibly several hairdressers. His cheek bones jutted out of his skin, like a half-starved animal. It was a freeze frame, caught mid-laugh. His teeth were very white, she noticed, and he had a pleasant smile, one that made her want to grin too. His skin was tanned and his lashes were dark. Then he was gone. Thalia shook herself and frowned slightly, where had that image come from. She was sure she had never seen anyone like that. She pushed the picture of the laughing boy out of her head; she would puzzle over it later. She turned back to her bed and sighed. Now what did she _need_.

Gently, she laid a picture of her and Jason in the very top of items in her bag, it would make her load heavy, but it would be worth it, just to have a piece of him with her.

After nearly an hour of packing and un-packing Thalia became certain that she had everything she needed – for the moment – and skulked down the stairs. She crept into the living room and ever so slowly opened her mother's wallet.

Panther-like she pulled out the crisp sheets of money. When about $200 had been transferred into her purse, she placed to wallet where she had found it and quietly slid out of the back door, her new life beckoned.


	2. Demigods Live Alone

_Finding Home_

_Chapter Two: Demigods Live Alone_

Luke glanced around gingerly then beckoned for Myles to follow him; which he did, also glancing from left to right. The boys cropped hair was rumpled and mud-splattered. Muttering curses the friends stripped of their soaking clothes, down to their underwear. Then they pulled out the bundle of spare clothes and divvied it among them.

Myles swore loudly when he realised that for five minutes he had been trying to pull his trousers over his head. Luke smirked, lacing up his sneakers.

"Having trouble mate?"

Myles glared at his traveling companion, "alright for you." When both teens were clothed, they sat down opposite each other in the safe house and Luke pulled out some food he had pinched out of an old ladies trolley. They split the bread and apples out, both taking draughts of clean-ish water.

"Man, how do you _get_ this stuff? I would have got nicked way back!" Myles exclaimed, "It's like you have some sort of powers!"

Luke looked uncomfortably away, "Dude, you don't actually have powers, do you?" Myles leaned forward, still grinning.

"Actually, I need to talk to you," Luke began, dread bubbling inside his stomach, at the thought of his friend deserting him, like so many before had done, or even worse, say how cool it sounded and how great it must be to have and Olympian for a dad.

Ha, that showed how much they knew about the Gods.

"Uh oh, 'the talk'," Myles smirked; Luke chucked some scrap paper at his head, which he dodged, "What about? Something like you is, I dunno, like the head of and alien race?" He smirked and rested his head in his hands, certain Luke's problem or whatever, could be turned into a joke, then fixed and they could carry on running. Away from whatever Luke was running from, his parents, his past, his identity.

And of course, he, from his own problems.

Luke swallowed, _my as well give it to him straight, _"My dad is Hermes, God of Travellers and Thieves." The thirteen year old gulped again, telling people had got harder and harder over time.

Myles snorted, "Hey mate, you need to do better than that!" Abruptly the elder boy stood up and began to wring out his clothes. "I mean; 'my dad's a God', and not just _any_ old God, he's _Hermes_, God of Pilfers!" He chuckled again then turned back. "So, Luke what's really the problem. Don't even _think_ about lying, I can tell."

Luke took a deep breath and started explaining, from the very beginning.

_Thalia&Luke_

"Grace! Oi! Grace, snap out of it and 'elp me out 'ere!" Thalia turned slowly, and chuckled, McKenzie was standing with one leg in the trouser hole and her arm through the other. McKenzie scowled, "Nothin' funny 'bout this, now give me a 'and!"

Mitch, Callum, Pete and Violet lazed on scuffed arm chairs, flicking the remote from one channel to the next, before finally settling on and all-nighter horror. Breaking and entering had its perks; cable TV, beds and fridges being some of them. Mitch intertwined his fingers with Violets', and she rested her head on his lap. Cue gagging noises from Callum and Pete, ever the stereotypical identical twins, who had their feet propped on the others lap.

Just as Thalia began untangling her friend from the mass of clothing the foraging half of the group came running through the entrance, hoods up.

Uh oh, that was a bad sign. Krissy, the leader, stooped hands on knees for a second, before spitting out the words the words between deep breaths.

"Out, out, out! Everyone, cops alert, everyone grab 'criminating objects and run, everyone to the gathering place!" With that the group of seven skilled burglars, forgers and scouts took off, grabbing only their spare clothes, which had been drying after a spin in the washing machine, another perk to other people's houses.

Mitch grabbed Violet and pulled her out of the window they were quickly followed by the twins, who had stopped only to switch off the oven, and TV.

"Guys, see ya at the meeting place," hollered Pete over his shoulder as Callum dragged him out of the frame.

Thalia glanced and McKenzie who was desperately struggling with her clothes.

"No, Grace, jus' go! I'll be fine!" Thalia, glanced around desperately, was that her imagination or could she hear footsteps pounding up the drive? Hurriedly she passed McKenzie her hoodie and slipped her own over her 'borrowed' T-shirt.

"Come on McKenzie, we're in this together!" Yes, now she could hear them, police sirens wailing, getting louder, louder.

"We've gotta scram!" McKenzie tossed her shoes aside, jumping out of the window barefoot. Willing herself to become a shadow, Thalia pressed back against the wall, waiting for an opening.

"All of you inside the building, I want you all to have your hands in the air where I can see them by the time I get in there," an officer called.

"Dramatic type, cops, ain't they?" Chortled McKenzie, then she turned to Thalia, "'we're in this together'? What sorta chick-flicks you been watching?" They slinked through the undergrowth, and almost immediately McKenzie whispered, "Now!" They broke into a run, sprinting across the paths, frantically dodging policemen; hoods covering their faces.

"Get them!" _Wow,_ Thalia thought, _this is just like in 'America's most Wanted'._

The duo ducked and weaver between the two cops on guard, before they even noticed, yells of "Hey!", "Get back here!" and "You could get a sentence in reformatory for this!" the last of which did nothing but spur the girls on faster.

Only when they were finally out of range of the shouting policemen did they slow down, first to a jog, then to a walk. Looking back every few steps, just to be certain they were completely alone, they began to make their way towards the warehouse.

The room was dark, odd, usually when you arrived the first thing you did was switch on the lights. It was cold, again strange, and most importantly _no one was there_!

"Vie, Cal," McKenzie called tentatively, "Pete, are you 'ere? Krissy, where are ya all?" At the same moment there was a clang from around the corner the adolescents gulped. Thalia tiptoed her way towards the corner whilst McKenzie (unenthusiastically) pressed her back against the wall and began to edge her way towards the end of the partition.

Thalia shook her head and muttered, "She thinks she's Tom Cruise from 'Mission Impossible'."

When they were about half way there, Thalia threw out an arm whispered;

"We're going around the corner, and we may as well just get on with it." With that, she grabbed her friends' wrist and pulled the (reluctant) teenager behind her.

"We should jus' skedaddle outa here, they'd do the same!" Ignoring her comrade's weak protests, Thalia hauled the two of them towards the bend.

They turned the corner.

_Thalia&Luke_

Myles held his head in his hands, his face was a cross between seriously bemused and thoughtfulness, a strange combination as it turned out.

Luke would have found it extremely funny, had he not been watching, bated breath for the other boy's reaction.

"So," began Myles after a long pause, "you're telling me your dad actually _is _Hermes; the Greek God. The freaky people who _occasionally _try to _kill_ us are monsters from ancient Greek Myths; like Gorgons?" He stopped again, with a little shake of his head, as if he was questioning Luke's sanity. "But I can't see them because of something called _Mist?_ Is that it?"

"You don't believe me," Luke sighed, another non-believer, he'd have to leave soon.

Myles leant back and crossed his ankles, "'Course I believe you! Like I said, I know when people lie."

"Wait," Luke blinked in confusion, _huh? _"What did you say?"

"I believe you," Myles shrugged. "It's just hard to suddenly deal with. You know what I mean?"

"No," Luke answered truthfully. "So, you believe me," he struggled to keep track of the conversation.

"Yes, yes Luke, I've already said that!" Myles nodded impatiently, "Keep up!" Then he grasped Luke by the shoulders, "Why didn't you tell me straight away? It would have been easier by far!"

"I-I wasn't sure -"

"That was meant to be a re-reto-rhetorical question, you know, one that you _don't _answer back to!" Not letting go of Luke's shoulders he stood, slightly looking down on the younger boy. "Being a Demi-whatever -"

"Demigod,"

"Be quiet, being a Demi_god _sounds awful, monsters attacking, being alone? I think you need a friend, a proper friend."

Luke half smiled half grimaced, "I need a friend so badly right now."

Myles grinned; a smile so similar to Luke's own, it was like looking into a mirror, okay; a mirror that changed your eyes, hair and height. "I was hoping you'd say that; now how about you start training me to fight monsters!"

_Thalia&Luke_

Ten members of the group were unconscious with a monster leering over them. Fiery hair – literally, miss-matched legs, coordinated with a mini-skirt; an outlandish and not altogether flattering combo.

"Demigod, demigod," the monster murmured, "there _is_ a demigod in this group. _No in this room_." The monster began examining her next contestant, Callum, "Hmm, not demigod? Smells like Zeus, but not strong enough… Maybe protective magic?"

The monster stroked one long, claw-like finger down the length of the lifeless boys jaw, then along his throat. "A pretty boy, I bet he would taste, _stunning_." The monster crooned, it sounded vaguely European. "But no, don't wish to tempt fate, unnecessary deaths and that rubbish."

It was weird, like the monsters pronunciation was becoming more modern as it spoke aloud, as if it were catching up with present dialogue as it were talking. Then she moved onto Pete. "Ah, but what is this? A _double_; a clone? Well, there is no need for two of the same make, oh he looksss _ssso_ tasssty…"

Her voice became a hiss as she bent down and slithered her forked tongue along the sleeping boy's jaw; she trailed it across his face leaving a path of slime across Pete's cheek.

McKenzie started in disgust, and began to fight towards the monster. Thalia stood, frozen.

That was, of course, before screaming so loudly the people in Chicago could probably hear it. The monster turned. The fangs she had unsheathed dripped with unshed venom. When she saw the two girls, one unmoving and the other struggling to get past her she smiled, narrowing her eyes.

"Ah, ssssso _there'ssss_ the lovely daughter of Zeusssss'; Thalia Grace," she hissed.

McKenzie urgently began tugging on Thalia's black jacket, "Oi, 'ho's Thalia, Grace?" The monster momentarily looked thrown; then she recovered her poise.

"So you haven't told them, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus?" The monster let out a cold giggle, which is a strange sound, for those of you lucky enough not to have heard one.

Thalia drew her ever so threatening mace canister from one of her pockets and as she held it in her hands in morphed into a celestial bronze spear. The monster hissed and McKenzie let out a sharp breath.

"Grace, I mean _Thalia,"_ her voice was hurt; like she couldn't believe that Thalia hadn't voiced her real name, "since when did ya carrya _pistol_?"

_Thalia&Luke_

"Damn!" Myles used his wonderfully colourful vocabulary to express his annoyance. Luke smiled slightly and rubbed his head in mock annoyance.

"I just can't," Myles struggled with his borrowed sword, which he still insisted was an eraser, "get the sword to do the killing thing!"

"The 'killing thing', really?" a scowl was sent his way. "Well first try turning the sword -"

"Eraser,"

"- around."

Cue more swearing.

_Thalia&Luke_

_What?_

For a moment Thalia was thrown, and then she remembered the mist. She frantically searched her ADHD mind for something.

When she had travelled with a group of daughters of Hecate, the had done some cool magic called 'Manipulating the Mist' where they could change what a mortal saw, but how had the done it? McKenzie's eyes were fixed disbelievingly on the 'pistol' and the monster was taking Thalia's hesitation as a go ahead, to continue with her initial plan; kill Pete.

_Yes! _It returned in a rush, they had snapped their fingers.

"Um… What gun? I'm not holding a gun," McKenzie's eyes narrowed dangerously, the kind of look that Thalia recognised from that time a thief had tried to nick her forged passes.

Thalia snapped her fingers and prayed to her father; _please, pl__ease let this work dad._

"I am not holding any sort of weapon," Thalia droned, enunciating clearly, "_nobody_ is here, now, you just go and-" McKenzie cut her off.

"What? You're pointing a freaking rifle at 'n old woman, who is worried 'bout 'couple of passed out teenagers!"

McKenzie gestured, at the monster, who tried to look innocently at her, whilst simultaneously shift Pete into a position that would make him easier to kill. Not a simple undertaking.

"That is really over the line Gra-Thalia. We're runaways, not murders!"

"Wha-what? You think I'm trying to kill an old woman?"

"Well, duh,"

Police sirens emanated from the road. At that same moment, the monster attempted to bite Pete. Two fangs were positioned above his neck. In the moment that McKenzie and the sirens the fanged terror threw back her head and brought it forward again incisors bared.

"No!" Thalia struck without thinking and stabbed the monster, no the _empousai_, now she recognised it. The _empousai _stiffened and screeched so loudly that Thalia actually felt her eardrums begin to crumble under the force of the note.

Only when a fine golden dust settled over the people in the room and McKenzie began to scream, did Thalia open her eyes. Panicked; she searched around her for an exit route.

Footsteps pounded from outside, shouting voices drifted in,

"We've gottem, I think there's more than just the first six…"

"Back-up needed?"

"A possibility of weapons…"

"See you at ten darling,"

Uh oh.

Thalia glanced around for an escape route.

"Nu-uh _Thalia,_ you're not moving from here." McKenzie took a breath, and composed herself, "You just murdered an innocent citizen, now I'm gonna make sure you don't move from here, an' then the police are gonna take you away," her voice faded into a hiss.

Desperation clawed at Thalia's heart. There was no way out, McKenzie was standing guard, she couldn't stab her as she was a mortal. Hopefully.

The other guys were starting to stir; there was no way she could get past themwithout being noticed. And, of course there were the police, growing ever nearer.

Thalia swallowed her throat suddenly dry.

"McKenzie-" she began, and that was as far as she got before the door was flung open, the sound ringing across the room, and the lights switched on, creating temporary blindness.

There, a face, a face that she recognised from something. A photograph, maybe? Icy blue eyes, crooked smile, awful hair.

_Hairdressers, something to do with hairdressers._ Then she remembered, five years ago, when she had run away, this had been the face she had seen. But this time something was different, he looked sharper, like someone had switched to HD.

There was something else too, he wasn't frozen; his breathing was laboured, chest rising and falling.

"Come on Thalia; lets kick some monster butt," he said grinning the same crooked grin that she had seen five years ago, he stood up and held out his hand. Hesitantly, Thalia raised her own palm, intending on slipping it into the boy's own. Then he was gone.

Policemen rushed around the corner. McKenzie spun around.

"Thank God, Officers, this girl, she just murdered this acquitted woman, and she threatening to assassinate the rest of us! Please help!" McKenzie turned on her almost perfected 'posh' accent that she saved for emergencies.

She flash a smile at Thalia, it wasn't the same as the grin they had shared not too long ago.

This one showed too much teeth, with a hint of steel. Taking a deep breath Thalia snapped her fingers again and said; "I'm not here."

And she wasn't, well, she was but no one could see her.

"No! Get back you runaway!" McKenzie screeched. A policewoman cuffed her hands behind her back, "No!"

The others were groaning, slowly waking. Then suddenly all ten floored members of the gang snapped up. Backs so straight it was as if someone had attached rulers to them.

Their chests heaved, as they gulped down huge amounts of air, as if they had been under for years. Several officers, one for every teen, with about five spares, grappled with hand-cuffs before chaining their hands together.

The group didn't have a chance; disorientated, struggling to remain conscious and starved of air. The resistance was overwhelmed almost instantly.

As each teenager was lead out of the cellar; Krissy head held high, eyes bright, Mitch with his mouth set in a thin line eyes almost shut, Violet shivering weakly, sobs wreaking her slim frame and the twins Callum and Pete were walking side by side. Their fists were clenched, and they seemed to be muttering almost under their breath. Their arms brushed inconspicuously as if they were daring anyone to try separating them.

Following them was everyone else; fakers, robbers and scouters of various ages and stages of shock, until it was just she, McKenzie and three policemen.

"Anyone else?"

"Negative; Ashley,"

"No names, it could be bugged."

"Why did I ever take you to see the last Bond film?" The second officer threw his hands in the air, as the third; of who was doing strange things to the walls, tutted sympathetically.

Only when the police had finally decided that they had enough evidence and that McKenzie was secure, did they march towards the corner that had caused so many events that evening.

As she passed McKenzie the spot were Thalia was standing, not daring even to breath to loudly, whispered, venom punctuating her vocals; "_Thal__ia_ Grace, I will hunt you down for this," before she was shoved up the stairs into a police car along with Taylor, a scouter and Mitch, surrounded by a crowed of interested reporters and nosy neighbours.

They would be talking about his incident years later in the small village near Los Angeles, about 'the twins who looked hard as iron' and 'the sobbing wreak of a girl' and 'the girl who was dragged out kicking and screaming by her hair, yelling that another, a traitor and murderer, was still inside'. Indeed it was the last claim that had unsettled the folk of the neighbourhood most, as none of them could quite shack of the feeling that the young teen had been telling the truth.

* * *

_A Gang of Thieves_

_It was on the 28__th__ of December, 1999, that a disturbance near S__cott St. had the whole of Southwood in uproar._

_One of our Torrance reporters state; ' that the police have been trying to hush the neighbourhood with bribes'; but thanks to Mr Thorpe, aged 73, a member of the audience who saw everything that happened from his vantage point in his bathroom, Reporter Krale was able to have an insightful interview on what dreadful occurrences had taken place that night. _

'_I was jus' brushin' me _[false]_ teeth when I 'eard an awful racket from outside me lavatory window,' expla__ined Mr Thorpe, whilst twiddling with a spare set of false teeth, 'it made me 'earning-aid go all fuzzy to begin with, bu' with a little tuning, I was able to 'ear most of the conversation.'_

'_There was some screaming from 'side the empty warehouse tha' was jus' down the road,' _

_When Krale asked what happened next after a pause of about twenty seconds, Mr Thorpe snapped "that he was getting there" and "how young people had no respect nowadays"._

_For a while after that there was an uncomfortable silence until Mr Thorpe decided to continue with his "fascinating" tale._

'_I looked through the window and to me amazement; there was about three police cars parked along the street. So of course, I popped in me falsies. About fifteen or sixteen policemen or women entered the building and after a couple of minutes, most of the officers left the building, each one with a kid._

_I recognised one of them; Matt Barker, when to the same school as my grandson; until about las' year when 'e 'ad been reported missing and 'ad never showed. ' Mr Thorpe stopped to wipe his nose on a hanky._

'_The first to be pulled out by 'her cuffs, was a teenager, I had seen her on a missing poster, I remembered, Dowle, I think 'er name was.' Another pause,_

'_An' there was one girl; sobbing, she was, quite sad to see, one of the boys went a little mental tryin' to gat to her. They were separated. _

_After them, there was a pair of twins. Pretty good looking, actually, even I, being straight, have to admit that, but they set up a righ' fuss abou' being parted, I think the exact words were; "'who do you f****** think you freaking are? Trying to f****** separate us!'" from twin one and "' you f****** bastards!'" from the other; very polite young gentlemen.' _

_Mr Thorpe stopped again, this time to think._

'_Ah yes, next a Goth kid, probably on drugs, 'e looked pretty confused; almost no fighting at all, a petite blond, very young I would say, only abou' nine or ten. Three more kids followed, all of them teenagers, been living rough for some time I should guess, I couldn't see them very clearly, about four policemen came out with them.'_

'_About five minutes later, I was jus' wondering why they 'adn't left yet when they came ou' with another girl, about thirteen I'd say. Now, this is the interesting bit, she was _screaming_ tha' there was someone else in the house; a murderer. Saying 'ow she 'ad killed an innocent citizen. Now that really got to __me; even _thinking _about it gives me the shivers.' Mr Thorpe demonstrates said shivering. 'And the thing is' he inclines forward __clandestinely, 'I can't quite shake off the feeling tha' she was telling the truth.'_

_When asked the question _'Who, who was the killer, the name?' _Mr Thorpe chuckles vehemently, 'The name she yelled, sounds more like a title to me, it was; "Thalia Grace, da__ughter of Zeus".'_

_Turn to page 37 for information about the latest AS levels or page 42 for the latest scandal…_

_Thalia&Luke_

"No!" Luke's voice became a mangled screech, "No, NO!" he ran towards the wreaked wall, where until recently, Myles had been taking cover.

_No, please Zeus no,_

The fourteen year old forced his arms to pump faster, pushed his legs to stretch further.

He avoided a mound of rubble and cleared a rise of soil without breaking his stride.

"Myles?" he called, there was no reply. Then, a groan.

There, lying against the ruined remnants of the wall. A svelte cut ran across the teens' forehead, clean as a swipe from a blade. Blood poured from his hairline drowning his face and neck in the murky, rubicund fluid.

One arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, sticking up from his shoulder backwards; like a sick, warped wave hello. Half of his body was crushed under the bricks.

Almost reluctantly the deathly pale boy took a shuddering breath. His mouth puckered and his brow furrowed, then aversely, he cracked open an eyelid, then the other.

"Hey Luke," his voice rasped and broke over the two familiar words, "did we get the monster?"

Of _course_ they hadn't, the wall had fallen in and Luke had run towards the wreckage without a second thought for the monster, he simply said; "Yeah, we got him."

Myles smiled, honestly, it was more of a smirk. As his hand twitched towards his sword.

"I won't be needing this anymore," he coughed, blood oozing from his mouth, "jus', one question, was I a good, you know, a good friend?"

Luke wiped a tear from his sweaty, grimy face, "Of course," he said fervently, "you were the best."

Myles nodded and a slow smile spread across his ravaged features. His fingers clenched around the swords hilt, he brought it up towards his face, hands shaking. The sunlight caught the blade, casting glowing golden beams across their faces. Myles studied the celestial weapon, and then looked Luke in the eyes.

"I still see an eraser," he said, grinning slightly. Then he stiffened, his eyes glazed, his breathing quickened. Faster and faster; until, abruptly, it stopped, then his heart beat slowed down and halted. His final smile still imprinted across his face.


	3. The Dragon's Cave

_Finding Home_

_Chapter 3: Dragon Cave_

Thalia's eyes were red and bloodshot; her black mascara smeared across her face with tear-streaks along her cheeks.

In short, she had been crying.

She had pulled her black hoodie over her face to muffle her sobs. Her chain choker caught on her short mane and she ripped out a chunk of the black disarray of hair. Her bag was slung across her shoulders brusquely and she gnawed on a ragged finger nail as she waited for darkness.

A copy of the _Southwood News _lay crumpled on the floor, indistinct pictures of her friends and blurred writing invaded her head.

_Pulled out by the cuffs…_

_Sobbing… a boy went mental…_

_Confused… almost no fighting at all…_

_A petite blond…_

The volume of her sobs reached a crescendo of snuffles and whimpers, her friends, some in prison, others in care. The one thing they had all fought so hard for, freedom had been snatched from under them.

It wasn't fair.

_Life_ wasn't fair.

Especially hers.

Almost suddenly darkness seemed to cloak the world, although it must have been falling for quite some time.

Still sniffling quietly to herself, Thalia stole out of the empty building and into the deserted street. She had taken to travelling at night. It meant that not so many people around were around (as long as she avoided Manhattan, the city really never did sleep).

Today, she was going to run, somewhere. She passed a bin with a newspaper sticking out. The date struck her. January 1st, the beginning of a new year; then she realised something else. _I missed my birthday?_ Thalia thought slightly incredulously.

Five years, that was a long time.

"Blaaaaa!" a sudden bleating noise startled Thalia out of her thoughts.

She looked around, nothing.

"Blaaaa!" the insistent noise came again, Thalia looked down. At her feet, staring up at her with big, intelligent eyes was a goat.

_Huh? _Thought Thalia, _a goat, interesting, maybe I'll wake up now?_

The goat blinked up at her.

Thalia tried pinching herself.

She was still there.

Then the goat vanished in a_ pop!_ Thalia stared around in the dim light. Goats couldn't just vanish into thin air, could they?

Then another bleat, from further ahead, there was the goat. Curly horns and huge udders, almost unthinkingly Thalia reached for her spear, whilst simultaneously running a search on 'goats' in her Ancient Greek Mythology mind.

Not many matches, apart from…

_Amalthea…_

A Wikipedia article came to mind. She had cared for Zeus when he was a baby.

Did that mean that the goat was trying to help her?

Thalia thought for a moment, she had two options.

She could a) Kill the goat before it killed her, or b) Follow the goat and see what would happen.

Thalia took a step towards the goat and dropped her mace canister back into her bag.

"Amalthea, right, that's your name, isn't it?" The goat looked up at her with huge, round eyes. As if to say; _of course I am, are you stupid or what?_

"Alright," grumbled Thalia, "so, should I follow you?"

Amalthea stared up at her again; she had very long lashes for a goat.

Thalia took a hesitant step towards the horned mammal.

_Thalia&Luke_

His eyes were closed and he was trembling, back shaking, and arms unsteady.

Luke tentatively reached out one shaking hand and clasped the hilt of the weapon with slim, sinewy fingers. He gripped the handle so forcefully that his knuckles turned white and pressed at his sunburned skin.

The fourteen year olds eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. His skin was concealed in grime and his hair a dirt encrusted mess.

Slowly he brought the sword towards his face, watching, his mouth a flushed slash across his face. The sun caught the celestial bronze sending shimmering waves of light over his face and the body that lay beside him.

Then a face, gleaming, electric blue eyes, a spray of freckles and short black hair; it was the girl again. She smiled, her chest heaving, then leant down and held out her hand.

Her nails had a thick layer of dirt beneath them and the cuticles were raw looking. The thumb on her left hand was bleeding and she had an uncomfortable looking hang nail.

"Come on Luke," she spread her fingers wide and jerked her head, "lets' go and kill some monsters!" Luke's arm felt like lead as he heaved his arm towards her. She jiggled from foot to foot and bounced her head impatiently at his excruciatingly sluggish progress.

"Hurry _up!"_ Groaned the girl, she started to flicker her fingers, lambent in the sun, began to fade. "Come on!" Her voice was urgent now, her irises thin rings around black spheres, "Quick, quick Luke; _NOW_!"

Finally his palm was about to connect with hers when she was gone.

_Thalia&Luke_

She had been following the goat for days, monster attacks, stealing what she could, trying to find places to sleep and following an ancient goat.

Her life just kept getting better and better.

She stopped for a moment to adjust her back-pack; the picture of Jason had been digging rather uncomfortably into her shoulder blade.

"Blaaaaaaa," the Amalthea looked back over her shoulder and called, if she could talk, Thalia thought, she would be saying to hurry up.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," mumbled Thalia scowling in the direction of the small mammal. Her legs shook with fatigue as she took another step and black spots filled her vision; she had been walking non-stop for about thirty-six hours and she had not even been able to refill her water-bottle after it emptied around the ten mile mark.

She knew he would be there even before she opened her eyes; his visits, or whatever she should call them, were getting more and more frequent, one every day at least.

"Hey Thalia," he walked towards her, a smirk playing across his handsome features, "what was that move?"

He stopped beside her, surveying a scene that only he could see. "Code '_destroy-the-girls-bathroom'_?" He chuckled and pushed his hands deeper into his pockets; his blond hair was blown forwards by a non-existent breeze and his icy irises sparked with laughter, he looked at her, and held out a hand. "Come on Thalia, before the FBI gets here!"

She tried, again, to clasp his hand; but as always, he disappeared just as their fingers were about to link.

She frowned; had she just touched him? She wasn't sure. She brought her trembling left hand towards her face.

_Thalia&Luke_

Luke shook his head, ridding the image. The blue eyed, black haired girl was telling him to hurry up more frequently now. She was also getting more offensive. Her last insult referred to his flirting skills, how she knew of them, he couldn't work out; which in his defence were pretty good for someone who could count how many conversations he had had with girls – not including relatives or womanlike monsters - on one hand.

He checked his internal GPS. It was a handy gift from his father, he would grudgingly admit; that he could tell where he was without a map. It was like having an automatic 'You are HERE' sign.

He had been travelling towards Los Angeles for some time now, even when he had been with Myles, as if something had been pulling him that way.

Now that it was just him, he was moving twice as fast; moving from Kansas to Utah in only a couple of days and then sleeping for nearly forty hours. Now he was planning on hitch-hiking the rest of the way through Nevada, avoiding Las Vegas at all costs, his GPS when haywire whenever he tried to focus in on that area and the last time it had done that, there was a whole party of giants, literally it was Millie the monsters' seventy millionth birthday or something like that.

He rested his hand on the celestial bronze sword that had killed about fifty monsters yesterday, and twisted the hilt. It was a comfort thing that he had been doing since he first found the sword hidden deep inside his Mother's vanity draw.

Luke darted towards the road and stood facing the traffic with his thumb up in the '_hey, could I get a ride?_' position.

After getting soaked by rain water, almost run over by careless drivers and receiving several dirty looks, Luke was just about to give up and just walk the rest of the way when a young-ish looking woman in a red sports car stopped beside him. Her nails were long talons painted bubble-gum pink, her hair was wrapped in a floral head scarf and she wore a dark pair of shades.

Pushing her glasses down her nose to reveal treacle brown eyes, which then changed to green, then to blue she twirled a loose strand of dark blond hair around her index finger.

"You looking for a ride, honey?" Her lips were painted a lustrous strawberry red. Luke nodded silently, the woman gestured for him to sit down beside her; when he did so, the doors snapped shut and the wheels began to move.

"So Luke," she folded her hands into her lap, not even creasing her lilac dress. Or was it mauve? "Why," she paused and examined him through her lenses, "are you heading to Los Angeles?"

"Uh," it was then that Luke noticed several alarming pieces of information;

The car was moving of its' own accord, from lane to lane without the glamorous lady ever touching the wheel.

She knew his name; and when you were a demigod if someone random knows your name, you have to skedaddle.

She knew where he was going. If that didn't scream 'STALKER' he didn't know what did.

She smiled understandingly, "I know it's hard to take honey, I am beautiful." She sighed and then checked her buzzing iPhone.

"Oh, excuse me, it's my boyfriend," she giggled as if saying the word 'boyfriend' was a scandal and tucked a curl of hair behind her ear.

"Darling," she began "I'm doing something for Hermes… very busy." She listened again for a moment. "No, I don't it would _ruin_ my hair!"

She giggled down the phone again, and then her mouth set into a hard line.

"Put him on the phone," she ordered a determined hint to her tone now.

"Hello dear, cousin or, whatever you are." She gritted her teeth and for a moment looked quite terrifying, "…hmm, yes."

There was another pause whilst the woman listened intently, "Darling, I know that I can't interfere. But this boy is needed now… Apollo even said… yes I'm sure." She exhaled piercingly again and held up a single finger to indicate that she would only be a minute longer.

"Shut it…" she said suddenly, "I'm doing it now, so you can get the Hades outta here… Oh be quiet Hermes, or Daddy Zeus will want a stern word… Yes that _was_ a threat."

Several more seconds passed as she listened half-heartedly to the voice down the phone. "Yeah, yeah cuz, I get it. Now scram… Oh and tell Martha, I'll be round to paint her scales next week… I know I said tomorrow but _something_ came up… of _course_, alright, bye!" She squealed down the phone before hanging up and tossing the phone into the air.

She shook loose her hair (now auburn) and pulled off her designer sunglasses. (It was only later that Luke wondered why she had been wearing them, it was winter!)

"So, Honey," she smiled as if they had a secret and winked deliberately, showing Luke that subtly was not this persons' strong suite. "I'm sure that you know me of course," she clapped her hands in excitement and smiled widely showing pearly teeth, then gazed at him expectantly.

"Um… Yeah, of course… You're…" Luke wracked his brains so hard it hurt and the woman's gaze burn holes through his head. Beautiful, doesn't drive her car, knows my name, talks on an iPhone that doesn't come back to people named after the Greek Gods. Slowly the dots connected, until finally he said triumphantly, "You're Aphrodite!"

Aphrodite giggled delightedly, and rock backwards in her seat, "Oh_, Honey_! Well done!" Her eyes glittered expectantly as she leant forward surreptitiously, "So, why are you heading to Los Angeles?"

Luke's throat felt dry as he tried to answer, "Uh, I don't quite know," Aphrodite didn't look pleased at the answer so he tried again. "It's like, there's something pulling me that way…" He trailed of, unsure as the Goddess of Love gave a smile so bright, he saw sparks.

"Exactly Honey!" She rocked backwards and forwards peals of laughter echoing around in the confined space. "Now Honey," she took his hand in hers "tell me _everything_."

_Thalia&Luke_

Thalia glanced around her before setting off after the small creature again, Amalthea never thought to check roads for traffic or streets for people. She just ploughed straight on.

Of course this was probably made easier by the fact that nobody ever saw her.

Thalia blinked, and then shook her head, blood pounding in her head.

Where had the goat gone?

One second she had been tottering across a deserted lane, with shut down shops on both sides of the narrow aisle.

Thalia shivered, remembering a road like this one, where she had been cornered by a gang of street-teens.

She had never been defeated so easily before, her spear had past straight through them. Thalia had forgotten that sometimes mortals could be just as sickening and repulsive as monsters.

Thalia had never been happier to see a giant in her life.

_Focus,_ Thalia told herself, the past is the past, _don't look back now. Where can that goat_ be?

Hands shaking in premonition, Thalia took a step forwards. Almost at once the pull of whatever had been bringing her there almost knocked her off her feet.

She was close, close enough to taste _it_.

She closed her captivating eyes, lips parted and dampened by sweat. This was _it_; Thalia could feel heat pulsing through her frame and electrical charges crackling through her body.

Another step, not even checking where she was going, _it_ wouldn't let her fall.

She didn't have to,_ it_ was telling her where to place her feet.

_Thalia&Luke_

Luke shook his head in bewilderment, where was he?

After spilling every secret he had ever kept and every thought in Aphrodite had dumped him in some run-down old place.

Sure, it was definitely near the LA, but it was also completely washed out.

But _the pull_ was stronger. As though it had been doubled; or brought closer.

A wave of aching hunger rolled through him, not for food. That could have easily been satisfied by the chocolate bars (Snickers – which are just the best food out there) or some meat pie that had been _borrowed_ from an old woman in spectacles that didn't seem to work or one of the 'snack bars' that Aphrodite had slipped into his bag (he always noticed these things). This sort of hunger pulled at his hair and tugged at his fingers. It grabbed at his feet and gnawed at his belly.

In other words, it was uncomfortable.

Now that he was so close it was almost unbearable.

Luke felt blood pound in his ears and his eyes flutter shut.

His feet moved of their own accord, across roads and streets and alleys, until it stopped.

Luke cracked open one eye, then the other and stared up at the… deserted tube station in front of him. About seven letters of the remaining text was visible on the fissured wall. Graffiti had been blasted at the letters so the sign read… well something a lot ruder than he cared to repeat.

After a couple of focused minutes as Luke tried to work out what the squiggles and lines meant and a couple more with him staring at the board with a slightly disgusted expression.

Luke really hoped that 'Miranda Veliksy' never read this.

With that puzzle solved Luke cast his gaze once again upon the station.

It seemed innocent looking enough, but then again, so had that Burger Bar.

Luke placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

He drew it cautiously out from its' sheath with a _shickt _sound. A bronzy glow from the blade shone eerily, sending ripples of light into the blackness. Luke pulled out a wind-up torch and pumped the pedal for a couple of seconds until a faint light spluttered on.

Luke took a step towards the building, every instinct of his demigod mind was sending out warning signals, but Luke just couldn't listen.

Something had brought him here. _She_ had brought him here, and he wanted to find out why.

As he twisted his sword in his hand and took another step forward Luke heard a clicking sound from behind him.

Feet brushed on the ground with barely any noise, but Luke could hear it. He zoned in on the sound. On his left, the sound of shallow breathing and hair rustled loudly in the hushed street.

The sounds were coming from around the corner, Luke realised, the person or whatever must have been there some time, because they were looking at him. Luke could almost feel the eyes of the stranger burning holes into his side.

He took another step towards the abandoned station. Maybe, if _she_ was following him, he could draw her out…

_Thalia&Luke_

Thalia stared at the boy.

Turn around, she thought; let me see your face. Then he turned and Thalia almost growled in frustration.

His eyes were crescents hidden under shadowed lids, his lips were pressed together in a line and his entire face was screwed up, as if he was concentrating very hard on something.

He was totally unrecognizable. He could have been Jason and she still wouldn't have realised.

For a second, Thalia was distracted by a shimmering light, but after it faded she began to stare at the boy again.

It could be him, but it might not.

And if it wasn't, Thalia almost cringed in embarrassment as she imagined the awkward conversation.

"_Err, hi. My name's Thalia, I'm twelve years old and just wondering, do you sometimes haunt my dreams and thoughts?" _

No, she would have to think of another way of asking.

The boy was still standing, so still he might have been a statue.

How was she meant to know if it was him, if he refused to let her see his face properly?

Then suddenly his eyes flickered open and he smiled. He looked knowingly at the spot where she was hidden. Thalia drew back, heart thudding.

It was him.

The boy, who had been there all along; telling her to come, was standing before her.

She took a trembling step forwards, bracing herself. How should she go about this?

Her first instanced was to turn around and walk in the opposite direction as fast as she could. It had to be a trap.

How often do you have visions of a charming boy telling you to 'come on' and then, suddenly find him? It didn't happen.

And yet, something wouldn't just let her walk away. Something, maybe even what had brought them together in the first place, was telling her not to be suspicious, that he was a friend.

That feeling alone was enough to make Thalia wary.

She peered around the corner again; the boy was walking towards the entrance of the tube station, he held a flash light in one hand and a sword in the other. Thalia took a step, then another. She walked forward with growing confidence until the stood inside the empty station.

The boy was still walking, not looking back, Thalia pressed back into the shadows until she was sure that he didn't know she was there and continued to follow.

It was very dark, the only light was the boy's flash light and sword, but he was a safe distance ahead of her, so it didn't really help her at all.

Thalia cussed quietly as she tripped over another piece of timber, and then froze one leg raised above the ground in an exaggerated motion.

There was no way that the boy could have not noticed that.

He stopped walking; he began to turn, and a huge roaring sound from within the darkness. A rush of blazing flames set the tunnel alight and a green scaly beast was visible.

It looked a little like a crocodile, but it most definitely wasn't.

Crocodiles didn't have spikes running down their backs, arching in purple curves.

Crocodiles didn't have glowing orange eyes with split pupils.

Crocodiles didn't have vast crusty wings that spiralled out and above its' arrowed head.

This creature did. Slowly there creature shook its' head sleepily, blinking blearily, then its' eyes cleared and it focused in on the two children in front of him.

Another roar echoed around them, almost deafening Thalia, and this roar wasn't like the other, this roar was angry and mad. That wasn't good.

Thalia pulled out her weapon just in time for it to be blasted out of her hand by a surge of flames.

The spear went flying across the room, sending silver slivers of light ricocheting around.

She was weaponless, shieldless and alone.

Completely alone; apart from the Dragon.

The Dragon advanced, talons clicking menacingly, snorting rings of smoke from its' elongated nostrils.

Thalia stood frozen. The Dragon lifted up one fearsome clawed pad, carefully eyeing the distance between himself and Thalia.

Very carefully, with one eye half closed for accuracy, the Dragon began to strike at the same time letting out a bellow of noise, fire and smoke.

The world seemed to collapse in. Everything was over, the noise rang in her head, send jitters of sanity tumbling and fire burnt at her clothes and hair, her skin was blazing and she couldn't even find the strength to breath properly.

What was the point anyway?

Her life had been one painful struggle to the next.

She took a shuddering breath and coughed. Smoke invaded her lungs, filling her body with the toxic fumes.

Thalia felt a claw, cool and firm press against her neck. The cold feeling was a welcomed sensation to her flaming form. Thalia could almost feel her body begin to crumble.

Just as Thalia's eyes closed, the point of the talon pushing through her skin, a flicker of a shadow passed through the corner of her vision.

But it was gone the next second.

It was probably just a hallucination.

After all, it was just her and the Dragon now, and Death, or Hades creeping ever nearer. She could almost feel his arms around her wrist, slowly pulling her downwards. A deep feeling of longing settled in Thalia's heart.

Why couldn't it just be over? She had given up.

And then Thalia let herself slip away.


	4. Whose Idea?

_Finding Home_

_Chapter 4: Whose Idea?_

Luke had seen many strange things since he had left his old home.

He had seen monsters in paper party hats and cut-out paper hearts dangling from their horns. He had seen mythical monsters chatting about their newest perms and he had watched Manticore Sexual Education videos, the last of which had left him eternally scarred – 'Now, now children, sexual intercourse isn't anything embarrassing.' _Um, yes it is._

Luke shook his head, ridding the disturbing image from his mind. He never wanted to see another Manticore again.

Sure, he had seen many bizarre things.

But nothing had ever been quite as odd as the view that was presented to him now.

_I mean_, Luke thought, _how often do you see the girl who's been haunting your thoughts take on a Dragon?_

Whilst Luke's extraordinarily ADHD mind was contemplating this not so important thought his feet began to run, unchecked, towards the figures.

Luke's brain caught up with the rest of his body just in time to see the girl's spear fly across the room. His gaze followed the spear's tumble as it clanged onto the floor leaving the girl unarmed. Flames flickered into view as Luke turned his head. He gasped aloud as the roaring Dragon reared up on to its' hind quarters.

The girl's own body was ablaze with red and gold flames twirling along her torso in a flaming dance. Her face seemed to melt like putty; the smell of burning fat penetrated the smoggy air making Luke gag. Spirals of smoke coursed up around her forming a Dragon's face that seemed alive in its detail, before the real Dragon burst for from the smog. One clawed digit pressed against her collar bone, the tip of the talon ripped through her pale skin as though it were paper. A smooth trickle of red fluid oozed along her neck like a snail's path.

He charged, adrenaline pumping through his blood-stream like caffeine high. He jumped in an arched line from his point over the girls' body, stabbing wildly through the haze of fire and smoke at the Dragon. As the blade pierced hide then flesh, the monster gave a resonating bellow of pain that rang through Luke's head. He landed on the Dragon's back and let out a squeak of pain that sounded about seven octaves higher than his usual tone. Gripping his swords' hilt that was merged in the shoulder flesh he hauled himself into a more comfortable position on the Dragon's back. Somehow, he noted proudly, even amidst the smog he had managed to locate possibly the only kink in the Dragon's armour.

His pride turned to panic as he turned and saw the girl's body slide lifelessly onto the ground, her face a mangled mess. Embers and ash clung to her hair and body, as she rolled sideways Luke saw the last flickers of fire spark and fade. Smoke surrounded her in a grey cloud of ash. He couldn't see if she was even breathing. _She had better be_; he thought furiously turning his attention back to the staggering Dragon he had mounted. He tugged free his sword, using the Dragon's spiked back for support. The monster groaned in agony as the sword was dislodged. Blood spurted from the wound, staining Luke's sneakers red. The gore flooded down the Dragon's shoulder a pool of blood already forming at its' clawed feet.

The scarlet liquid sprayed over Luke's arms and face, the measles effect already taking hold. The tangy taste of blood in his mouth forced him to spit great wads of saliva onto the ground. With a snarl, Luke thrust his blade back into the cavity between the two scales. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion.

First, Luke overlooked the Dragon's tail. A dagger like tip of the tail whipped across his shoulder spinning him off balance; as Luke's feet slipped from their holds he grabbed desperately at his swords hilt. When his fists closed around air, Luke closed his eyes and prayed, for possibly the first time since he had left home, to his father.

_Please dad,_ oil poured from between the scales of the great lizard, the serrated edges of the scales cut at Luke's skin, jagged lines criss-crossing his arms. Luke groped frantically for anything to grab, but the dust and grit blinded him.

_Please, help. If you know I exist please help us…_

Secondly, the Dragon decided that it was time to destroy the annoying creature on its' back. Luke flailed wildly as he was dislodged from his greasy hold. His eyes still closed, ribs pressing tenderly against his skin, making it sore to breathe. As he hit the floor with a bone jarring thud that knocked every gasp of oxygen from his lungs, the Dragon prepared its' coup de grâce, a final twist that should extricate its' uninvited passenger, followed by a jab of the poison from the blade of its' tail. An extraordinarily potent venom, which first paralysed the victim, then either slowed down the heart muscles until no oxygenated blood was passing through the body or stopped the lungs from breathing by blocking the wind-pipe.

Luke felt pressure being applied to his chest, it hurt. Two slits from powerful claws scraped across his arm, he couldn't even cry out. The poison seeped into the wounds, a sickly green colouring followed wherever the liquid soaked and Luke struggled harder and harder.

He felt the pressure relinquish and tried to breathe out, only to find he couldn't. He couldn't inhale or exhale. He began to panic.

A face appeared above his. The girl's face. Her mouth formed incomprehensible shapes, her features blurring. His eyes slid shut, head flopping weakly into a steading hand. Something warm and bumpy slapped across his face, harder and harder.

_But when everything disappears from in front of you_, Luke thought, _it makes it harder to think of what you might be thinking about if you could see._ His addled mind coughed up odd formulae and pictures of a girl with electric eyes as he fell into unconsciousness, the taste of smoke and blood still tinging his mouth.

_Thalia&Luke_

Thalia sat up. Her head ached, her back ached and she just wanted to lie down and go back to sleep. Unfortunately when a gigantic fire-breathing lizard is factored into an equation, people rarely get to take a nap. Her head span as she propped herself on her elbows to look around. The boy was pinned to the floor, a scaled fist pressing on his chest. The Dragon seemed to be smiling. Its claws blunt and gore dripping from its left shoulder. Its eyes were orange slits that glowed amber and yellow fangs grinned triumphantly. Evidently, the Dragon was under the illusion that it had won.

A false conclusion.

Thalia strained out one crusted arm. Every slight movement caused her to grunt in pain. But she couldn't give up; this boy had saved her life, she had no doubt about that, and he was in danger. She had to help him now.

With one last agonizing stretch, Thalia's fingers closed around her spears' hilt. Grasping the handle with ash-caked digits; she forced herself to her feet, using the spear as leverage. Her hands trembled with exhaustion and though she would never admit it, fear. Fear was not a feeling that Thalia knew well and she didn't like it.

"Humph," she grunted as she balanced her weight, knees cracking. She took a shaking step forwards, her head span and she fell. Unable to even bring her hands up to soften her tumble, she smashed her head into the unforgiving ground. Miraculously, Thalia hung onto consciousness. She knew that soon she would blackout, and wouldn't wake up for a while. Already a dull ringing was buzzing in her ears.

As she scrambled to her feet again, blood rushing to her head, Thalia saw the Dragon lean forwards again, this time its tail was positioned beside the boy's neck, a clear steaming fluid dripping from its tip. As a droplet of the liquid splashed onto the boy's skin, the Dragon scuttled back. It eyed the boy from its corner hungrily. The boy jerked suddenly. Thalia threw herself forwards. When she landed in front of his body, Thalia gasped in horror as she watched his skin slowly turn green. He writhed in agony as he tried to breathe and panicked when he couldn't. Arching inflamed slashes cut into his flesh and his blond hair was coated with blood and ash.

Biting her lip, Thalia leant over his body. The Dragon didn't move. It just sat there with a superior look on its lizard-like face, eyes glowing with greed. It seemed to watch Thalia with amusement, like it knew that Thalia could do nothing but watch the boy die. The boy's face was covered with gore and scum, his ravaged mouth turned upwards in a slight smile as he looked at her. His eye-lids flickered.

"Stay awake," Thalia murmured. "Don't sleep." He closed his eyes again and didn't open them, his head fell back and she cupped her hand gently to stop his head from hitting the floor. Then Thalia slapped her hand across his face. He winced in pain and Thalia felt faintly guilty, until he stubbornly kept his eyes closed. She whacked him again, much harder and then again. Wet smacking sounds filled the station and the Dragon recoiled, a displeased look in its eyes, but it didn't strike. Perhaps_,_ Thalia thought suddenly, it _couldn't_ attack; maybe the boy had weakened it.

Thalia stroked her index finger along the boy's cheek, leaving a path of scraped debris. Then she gritted her teeth and grabbed her spear again. Pain forgotten, Thalia jumped to her feet and sprang cat-like towards the cowering monster. Powered by rage and terror, she let out a cry of desperation and plunged the celestial bronze weapon at the fire-breathing monster's mouth.

It screamed and writhed in agony as golden dust poured from its scales. Before the Dragon disappeared completely in golden ash, Thalia plucked a curved claw from a jerking knuckle. As she pulled, the talon cleared of blood and grime, taking on a pale white colour. Thalia collapsed exhaustion flooding through her. Wanting only to fall into a deep sleep as the boy had done so easily, Thalia waited. But sleep did not come.

Her body felt hot, hair sticking to the nape of her neck. Then she began to burn. Thalia wondered for a moment whether the Dragon had a family, and opened her eyes. She was glowing gold. A quick glance sideways told her the boy was also shining. With a blink of confusion Thalia sat up, and then was gone. The Dragons' claw fell from her loose fingers onto the dirty ground and when the children had vanished, became a small pile of golden powder.

_Thalia&Luke_

"No!" Aphrodite moaned, gazing through her tapered fingers at the watery image before them. "Whose bright idea was it to send them to a Dragon's cave?"

The Gods glanced uneasily at each other. By 'uneasily' that meant, Athena gazing disinterestedly around, Artemis wrinkling her nose, Apollo making little _pow_-ing noises. Then there was Hera with a grimace on her face as she glared at Thalia's image, Poseidon scowling at Zeus, Demeter studying a packet of cereal, Hermes fiddling with his caduceus and chewing his lip, Hestia gazing worriedly at the picture from her spot by the hearth, Ares polishing his spear jerkily, Hephaestus making miniature models of what looked like crabs, Dionysius muttering 'get them,' under his breath and Zeus sitting majestically on his throne, eyes flickering from one agitated family member to the other.

"WHO?" Aphrodite screamed. Ares, very slowly raised one hand. Aphrodite glowered at the God of War so hard he flinched.

"I thought it would be good entertainment," he muttered finally. Artemis and Apollo simultaneously shifted backwards.

"Uh-oh," Apollo breathed quietly. Zeus significantly agreed with the statement.

Aphrodite prowled towards her boyfriend eyes flashing alarmingly. Hermes stood, hands shaking with rage. Martha and George hissed dangerously their intertwined tails slithered over their owners trembling shoulders.

Apollo reached out one hazardously glowing hand towards his shuddering friend.

"Calm Hermes," he said. His voice was layered, music dancing in every syllable and for a moment Zeus let the soothing sounds wash over him. Then he was back to alert mode.

Aphrodite took a shuddering breath. "We have to help them," she said finally. Massive roars of outrage echoed from the God's mouths, but Aphrodite didn't move. Her eyes were fixed on the image. Thalia was holding the boy, Luke. Tears spilled down her cheeks. Zeus felt a lump in his throat. She was his daughter. Hermes glanced up at him. Their gazes locked. Understanding passed between them.

Their children. Hurt.

"We _cannot_ interfere!" Apollo was standing. His body let off tiny sparks and anger and grief clouding his blue eyes. "I'm sorry, but if they die, they die." Artemis nodded.

"I hate to agree with my imbecile of a brother-" she began.

"Hey!"

"- but it would be breaking every rule that we swore to follow if we meddled in _any_ way." She sighed, auburn hair flopping over her eyes.

"We're sorry," Demeter spoke; her voice was soft and wispy. There was pain in her eyes as she gazed at the image. She too had lost a daughter, Zeus realized.

Apollo stiffened his eyes glowed emerald.

"_They shall survive_," his voice was rasping he shuddered on the spot; Artemis grabbed her twin's elbow, seemingly satisfied that it wasn't an elaborate joke.

"They shall survive…" echoed Hermes with a longing expression. His voice petered out. Aphrodite folded her arms, drawing her pink shawl around her shoulders.

"The boy, Luke, has been injected with the venom." She punctuated her point with a stamp of one red stiletto. "And they have no resources. So we can assume that if they are to survive, we will have to intervene." Her hazel eyes glared around the room.

"Are there any arguments?" Her voice was dangerously quiet. Everyone turned to Zeus. He was head God, it was his call.

Zeus gulped. What was the right decision?

He knew what he _should_ do. Gods could not interfere with demigod problems. No matter what.

But as he looked at his daughter he realised that he couldn't make that choice. He had been given the ability to save his daughter's life. He would never get that chance again. She would be dead.

His daughter.

Thalia Grace.

He locked gazes with Hermes again.

They exchanged glances, and Zeus nodded slightly. He turned to face the council of Gods before him. Aphrodite narrowed her eyes and then relaxed an easy smile returning to her face. Hera's feature remained stony as her husband stood from beside her.

"SILENCE!" he boomed, voice ricocheting around the marbled room. Every God, save Apollo who was collapsed on the floor, turned. "My daughter will not die today. Nor will Hermes's son. We shall grant Aphrodite's… erm… _request_, their lives shall be saved."

There was a round of curt nods and a beaming grin from Aphrodite that blinded Zeus for a moment.

"Hermes, would you do the honours?" The God nodded and focused on the image of the children. His fists clenched, his brow furrowed and the children in the picture glowed gold.

Aphrodite was organising already. "Someone bring Apollo round, he'll need to tend to the boy. And find some rooms Hestia, there will be some around somewhere. Probably."


	5. I Like the Pants

_Finding Home_

_Chapter 4: 'I like the pants'_

_Where am I?_ Was the first thing Luke thought when he woke, echoes of blue and gold fading from his vision.

Next, he noticed was that he was lying in a bed; he had almost forgotten what they felt like.

And then he noticed the throbbing, it felt like a continuous jabbing of not-quite-blunt claws.

Cool sheets were pulled up to his neck and tucked in uncomfortably around his sides. He groaned and attempted to push back the covers. He had begun to twitch his fingers, when a stabbing pain, even worse than the ache, shot up his body.

"Ack!" he grunted as he lay down onto the mattress.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a voice somewhere on his left. "It really hurts, doesn't it? When they see you're awake, they should come and give you some ambrosia. It's amazing." There was a pause, then:

"Um… What are you doing?" Luke stopped wriggling.

"I'm trying," he panted, "to turn onto my side so I can see you."

"Oh," came the reply, it was followed by a small sounding; "good luck." Luke didn't bother wondering what she meant, focusing all his efforts to his neck. With a painful lurch and a crack that set his teeth on edge, Luke succeeded in twisting his head sideways. The girl stared at him from the bed beside him. Her face was wrapped in large amounts of bandages, but it was most definitely her.

He stared at her she stared at him. It was his girl. The girl from his dreams, literally.

Blue eyes, black hair and pale skin; which he noticed was burnt a raw red colour, and peeling in places from under the wrappings. Her eyes flashed scrutinizing every inch of him.

It was unquestionably her.

They locked gazes.

And then it all came back.

The Dragon.

The fight.

The blackness.

He thought _she_ was just an apparition; his mind attempting to sooth his loneliness. Yet here she was.

"Hi," Luke winced at the awkward greeting.

"Hi,"

There was another silent pause in the almost-conversation.

"So, yeah-" Luke started, unable to stand the quiet any longer.

Quiet and small spaces equal unhappy Hermes kids.

"You know, it's-" the girl began at the same time. They smiled at each other uncomfortably each of them racking their brains trying to think of something to say.

"What's your name?" asked the girl suddenly. She brushed her lank hair away from her eyes, she winced. Luke noticed sourly, that she had the ability to move her hands _and_ sit up, almost. She peered at him with bright eyes that didn't leave his face. "Because," she continued, "at the moment I'm referring to you as 'the boy'."

"My name? Oh, my name," Luke thought for a moment. The way she was staring at him, made him feel slightly embarrassed. "My name's Luke. Yours?" she smiled at him, showing pearly teeth.

"Hello, Luke. My name's Thalia." They grinned sheepishly at each other.

Thalia arched her back slightly, wincing at the crack of her shoulder-blades.

"Ow," she complained.

"Where are we?" Luke asked, glancing around him. Thalia sat up crunching her neck from side to side.

"I don't know, Luke." Her tone was almost patronising. The sheet that had been drawn up to her shoulders fell as she placed her scorched feet on the floor. Ugly bruises, scars and blisters covered her body in a mass of colours.

Oblivious to his shocked gazed, Thalia hauled herself to her feet. She used the frame at the base of the bed to keep herself upright as she wobbled uncertainly on her feet.

A baggy black top covered her shoulders to her mid-thighs. She took a cautious step, then another. A grin was plastered across her face as she let go of the rail.

And promptly fell over.

Thalia gave an approximation of a shrug.

"It's a start," she said beginning to crawl towards the bed. "D'you want to try?" Thalia asked as she slid past his bed. Then she looked up at him, brows furrowed. "On second thoughts," she added, "I don't think so."

Luke frowned. "I want to have a go," his voice sounded whiny even to him. Thalia looked at him for a long moment.

"I don't think so," she repeated shaking her head. Luke's head pulsed with resentment. She couldn't tell him what to do, he'd saved her life. She owed him.

Luke opened his mouth…

"If you think this is bad," Thalia gestured down at her blistered and bandaged body, "you should take a look at yourself. They dealt with me as soon as I woke up, it was awful. My skin was all melted and raw. And you, you haven't been seen to yet."

Thalia pointed across the room to a slim mirror, almost concealed by a huge sheet.

She was clearly visible in all her burnt and scarred glory and on the bed beside her…

Luke didn't want to look, but like a magnet, his gaze had already drifted to the body.

It wasn't him.

It couldn't be.

Luke stared in horror at the boy in the mirror.

It _was_ him.

The boy had his blue eyes and his blond hair.

"They'll be here soon," Thalia tried to reassure him, but he couldn't process her words. "They'll fix you up."

Luke's face was a mangled mess; scar tissue covered every available space and his _skin_…

It hung off his face like saggy washing, flabby and melted like tar. His skin was blistered red, and it was peeling.

And worst of all, Luke could see three sylphlike welts crossed along his chest. They were green and puffy and outlined with red.

It hurt to look at them.

It was painful to think about.

Luke felt sick.

His eyes flickered.

Two shadowy figures stood in the doorway. He hadn't heard them come in. His eyes flickered back to Thalia. She was sitting there; her mouth was open, eyes glassy.

His eyes snapped to the obscurities as they glided forwards. Luke twisted his head, ignoring the jolt of pain, where was his sword?

A bright light illuminated the room and Luke blinked away the black spots.

"Hello again," came a bright voice. A voice he recognized from somewhere. _Who? What? When?_

Two smiling faces appeared in his vision. Their smiles were so brilliant, their skin so flawless, that Luke groaned.

"Now," said one of the faces mock-frowning at him as it pulled away slightly. "Is that any way to treat the guy who's going to heal you up?" He made a snapping sound and there was a rip of fabric, Luke jumped.

"It's alright," cooed the other face, "he's ripping some more gauze. It took us _ages_ to find, because we don't really use it!" she giggled, "oh, now we're going to take off the sheets. It may be a little cold, but Apollo here needs to get to your wounds."

They froze.

"Which part," said voice one, Apollo, "of '_do not say my name'_ did you fail to comprehend?" His voice was sharper, almost like glass shards. Luke flinched away and Aphrodite bit her lower lip.

"Oops," she offered lamely, her voice cracking.

"_Oops_?" Apollo barked, he swished his head, "they are not meant to know our names, or where they are."

"We're on Olympus, aren't we?" Luke asked his throat dry. A stinging agony was curling its way up his spine.

Luke wanted to gag. He felt sick.

_Crack_

Apollo and Aphrodite spun round on their heels. "Who wants to bet that's my sister?" the God squeaked in panic.

"Ugh," Luke felt a retch heave across his body. It forced its way through his veins, blocking his airways. He couldn't gag; he couldn't even open his mouth.

Suddenly Apollo was back. He had a grim look plastered over his boyish features.

"Alright, breathe in," he placed a cool finger delicately across Luke's burning forehead, "Aphrodite, I don't like this, but I'm going to do it anyway." Luke's eyes rolled back he grunted and groaned in agony.

A rigid hand slapped across his cheek, but Luke didn't open his eyes.

"Keep him awake!" yelled Apollo.

"I'm trying! He won't open his eyes!" screamed Aphrodite. She slapped him again.

_Her smacks hurt more than Thalia's_, Luke thought as he fell into a nightmare.

* * *

"_Are they there?" A cold sound rattled._

"_Yes," a clear voice called back. "The girl, Thalia of course and the boy,"_

"_Good," a keening chuckle drilled through Luke's skull._

_And he was gone._

_Where was he? _

_Luke looked down, his feet were glowing gold. Strangely, he didn't feel worried, just resigned. Why? _

_Marble flooring was cool under his feet. His body took a step forwards._

_And another._

_Monsters bowed down not far away, but instead of reaching for the sword that he knew would be there, Luke held his head higher and carried on walking._

_As he walked monsters lay flat before him._

"_Save us, Sir!" a small voice howled. A young Telchine with long whiskers gazed at him from her mother's side. _

"_Save us, Luke Castellan!" The cry was taken up by the inhabitants of the room. Giants, Empousai, Telchines, Manticores; the list went on. Luke reached a set of steps and began to climb. When he reached a platform he turned. Arms outstretched above his head, they too were glowing._

_Monsters of different shapes, sizes, species and colours roared and stomped their feet._

'_What's happening?' Luke wanted to scream, but instead his mouth opened and he started to speak._

"_I, Luke Castellan," his voice was powerful and it echoed around the room with a fiery passion. Luke listened to his own voice and stared in wonder about him as the Monsters hung onto his every word._

"_Vow to take the Titian Lord Kronos' essence. I shall use the power entrusted in me, by the Lord Kronos himself to destroy the Gods." Luke's face was a mask of passivity, but his blue eyes were focused as he recalled what the scriptures had said._

_What scriptures? Luke blinked; what was happening? Who was Kronos? What am I doing?_

"_I renounce the Gods, I embrace Kronos, I am Luke Castellan and the Fates brought me to this!" As Luke said this, a curved sword was pulled from its sheath. _

_A twin bladed scythe glinted bronze and silver in the glow of his body. _

_Backbiter?_

_Luke turned from the cheering Monsters to a group of… mortals? No demi-gods. Their eyes were clear and bright as they screamed along with the Monsters. When Luke turned, they nodded their heads respectively; admiration danced in their eyes… admiration and… fears?_

_Luke spread his arms wide in a practised motion. The demi-gods knelt. A single girl trembled as he brushed past her. Short red hair framed wide blue eyes as she looked up at him._

"_Luke Castellan," she mouthed._

_Luke reached a large table, a golden sarcophagus rested on the alter. It was encrusted with sparkling gems and ornate carvings._

'_Lord Kronos, Lord of Time,' it read. Not in English, Luke couldn't read stuff like that, but in… ancient Greek?_

_Other things were inscribed too, carved into the metal in a delicate cursive that did not fit with the vomit inducing warnings and messages, which said basically._

'_The Gods suck, destroy them all,' _

_Luke slowly unlatched the sarcophagus, "I renounce the Gods, and I embrace Lord Kronos!" The lid snapped open and a blinding bright light dazed Luke temporarily. _

_ "Come, Luke," a screeching voice rang around the room. "Let me see you…"_

* * *

When Luke woke, again, it was to blue eyes and a worried frown.

"Are you okay?" asked Thalia, her mouth puckered in concern. Luke nodded wincing at the feel of sliding joints. Thalia assessed him uneasily for a moment before a smile spread its' way across her pointed features.

"I like the pants," she said giggling as Luke stared down at his naked-except-for-underwear body.

"I mean," Thalia continued laughing full out, "All teenage boys love their inner Superman!"

Luke tried to frown, but found it too difficult. He and Thalia giggled, glanced at each other, smirked and laughed some more.

The high voice, the sounds of the cheering his own voice saying those words kept repeating itself over and over. Whatever it was, it wasn't _that_ important. It couldn't be.

Because, how could something be that important, if all that mattered was to sleep.

"Thalia,"

"Yeah," she yawned.

"Do you feel tired?" Luke fought against his heavy lids.

"Ye-es…" Thalia sighed. "G'night Luke,"


	6. Team Mates

_**A/N: Thanks to Daughter-of-Jove, Lyra daughter and heir o Chaos, TheJazzyDolphin, The other Daughter of Athena, WithPaperAndPen, bookworm299, idekineedalife, mtigirl101, Crazy Female LEPrecon and ThaliaLover for favouriting/following/reviewing. Sorry I haven't been able to respond I will try and do so from now on! (Dont hold me to it though.)**_

* * *

_inding Home_

_Chapter 5: Team Mates _

Athena and Artemis had their arms folded and their very aura said _we_-_are_-_angry_. Zeus frowned slightly at the cowering forms of Apollo and Aphrodite.

"How could you have been so irresponsible?" Artemis growled at her brother who held up his hands in surrender.

"I didn't say anything, it was Aphrodite!" Immediately the Goddesses turned their penetrating gazes towards the Goddess of Love. Zeus winced as he felt their burning glares slide past him, he felt Hera shift uncomfortably beside him and Aphrodite sent a very rude gesture at Apollo who gave a weak grin.

"_You_!" Athena began, "for thousands of years we have put up with you and your stupid, _stupid_ ideas!"

Artemis took over, auburn hair glowing golden with supressed anger:

"And when we agree to one of your plans, you go and ruin it!" Aphrodite opened her mouth but Hera cut her off.

"Artemis, Athena, calm down." The angry Goddesses turned respectively towards their mother Goddess and Zeus felt a strong tug at his heart as he watched his immortal wife stand. She exuded power as she spoke again.

"Aphrodite, you have possibly made a mistake that could destroy us. Can you imagine what would happen if Hades or one of his minions found out about this?" Aphrodite shook her head and looked down.

"I'll tell you what it would be like; not good." Hera's voice rang clearly through the throne room and even Dionysus was paying attention, leaning forwards. "The one condition to your plan was that they would not know who we were, just that the Gods had saved them."

Hera cast her gaze around the room at her family. Her gaze lingered on Hephaestus for a moment before she began to walk to the centre of the room so that she could speak to everyone.

"In an attempt to save this son of Hermes and daughter of Zeus'," Hera settled her stare on her husband. Zeus winced as his immortal wife scrutinized him, when he looked at her; there was no anger in her eyes as there had been with any of his other children, just sorrowful disappointment that her husband couldn't remain loyal to her even after swearing on the Styx.

"We have consequently damned ourselves. We all know what will happen to the boy, yes?" There was a murmur of agreement and Hermes hung his head low in shame or distress Zeus couldn't tell. "Now in an attempt to change his fate we have only sealed it,"

Hera stopped speaking and a shocked hush fell over the normally roaring with noise throne room. Aphrodite let out a sniffle and turned her face away from the Gods on their thrones.

"I didn't _mean_ to," she sobbed, morphing from woman to child. "It was an accident,"

"An accident that could abolish us and all we have achieved," Artemis said harshly.

Zeus couldn't stand it anymore, the awkward shuffling, the glares or tears.

"There is a simple solution for all of this," his voice resonated around the circular room and all the Gods turned towards him. They gazed at him, undisguised hope flickering hope in their eyes.

_Think of a simple solution,_ Zeus racked his brain furiously.

"Yes, brother?" Poseidon's leg twitched convulsively as he tapped his toes against the marbled flooring.

"The solution is…" Zeus wished everyone would stop looking at him, not something he swished often.

"We could erase their memories," a soft voice drifted across the room and before anyone else could respond, Zeus latched onto the suggestion.

"Exactly, just what I was going to say," Poseidon's face suggested that he knew exactly what had been going through his mind and would bring it up later with glee. But he wouldn't during counsel or this counsel at least. Zeus' eyes scanned the room for the mystery speaker, until he settled on a young girl sitting by the hearth.

"Hestia," breathed Apollo, he stood and bowed gracefully as she stood, bare feet bare brushing the ground. Zeus had to stifle a chuckle as he watched his son try to woo the eternal virgin Goddess, again. _He just doesn't know when to give up._ Hestia gave a small smile and accepted the proffered hand down the steps. Apollo stepped backwards with a dazed smile on his face and Artemis glared at him before deliberately stepping between the two of them.

"I get it," Athena said thoughtfully, stroking her chin much like her children did. "We'd have to be very careful, wouldn't want them to forget who they were."

"Or each other," Aphrodite piped up. "I love tragic love stories and this one can't just go out of the window,"

"The dreams have to go," Artemis pointed out, "that would be way too obvious,"

"Don't make them forget that they defeated the Dragon," Ares grunted, "that's the only cool bit in his entire story; he should remember that at least."

"I want them to forget this entire part of the incident," Hermes said slowly. "Let them remember the Dragon and each other and let the mist handle the rest."

Zeus acquiesced and glanced around the counsel there were nodding heads at every angle, everyone was agreeing: a momentous occasion. Zeus raised his fist for complete silence, it was given.

"I'll have my daughter, Mneme, sort the memories," he said, watching with satisfaction as his family, united completely for once, nodded together.

_Thalia&Luke_

Thalia groaned, fanning her face with her hand. Strange, it didn't hurt at all. She sat up, blinking and stared upwards.

"Hi," Luke was balanced on a branch of an oak tree and it made Thalia feel dizzy just looking at him. "You came around; I thought you were going to hibernate!" He laughed and swung down to her branch.

Wait: branch?

Thalia looked down and immediately wished she hadn't. She was so, _so_ high up.

"Hey, are you alright?" Luke's voice was still laughing but tinged with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Thalia's voice cracked slightly as the ground blurred. "Completely fine," Luke's disbelieving face was suddenly hanging under hers.

"What's wrong?" he asked again, swinging his legs to a lower branch so that he could see her face better.

"Nothing," she insisted, "really."

Thalia forced herself to look upwards again. Her palms were sweaty and she gripped the branch with unfaltering determination. Her breath came in rapid gasps as Thalia imagined the distance between her and the solid ground below. Her hands began to slip and in panic Thalia grasped at the air. She could feel herself falling and air beneath her body. Then, her feet were on the gritty floor, a ragged pebble dug into Thalia's left foot but Thalia was so relieved to be back on the firm ground that she could've kissed the muddy earth.

Luke's arms retracted from around her waist. Thalia looked up at him and he smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry," he ran his hand through his too-long hair. "I didn't think, you being a daughter of Zeus, that you…" he trailed off as Thalia gave him an evil glare of around twenty on the 'scare-o-metre'. Thalia took two steps backwards so that she could look eye-to-eye.

"Never mention this again," she hissed, eyes flashing angrily, Luke took several paces backwards. Thunder rumbled in the distance and Thalia, forcing away the flashes of electricity that were sparking up and down her body in strange patterns and waves.

"Okay," Luke held his hands up, webs of scars crisscrossed along his palms. "I won't mention it… although it is pretty strange if you think about it. Sorry!" Thalia let mini-lightning bolts dance on her raised hands and she glared at the too-smiley boy.

"Anyway," a sudden thought struck her, "how do you know I'm a daughter of Zeus?" Thalia wracked her brain, she was sure that she hadn't mentioned her heritage. Luke smiled again, although there were slim creases between his brows as if he were slightly confused.

"Apart from the obvious clue now," he looked pointedly at her hand. "Well, the lightning bolts that were destroying that Dragon was either your doing, or some freaky fluke." He glanced sourly upwards, "I'm thinking it's the first option."

And suddenly it all flooded back. Following Luke, or 'the boy' as she known him, into an abandoned railway station after Amalthea. The Dragon revealing itself. Watching Luke's surprise and horror from the shadows and then the flames. Thalia shuddered as she remembered the piercing screams hat she was sure would haunt dreams for many years to come. How she, forgetting everything except that she had to help, had sprung from the gloomy corner in which she had been planning her next move and called to her Father for help.

Nothing had happened.

Something inside of her told her that nothing would've occurred, but it was disappointing all the same. Thalia had charged at the Dragon, screaming Gods-know-what. All she could feel was anger, a burning fury that boiled like acid in her stomach, filling her body with rage. She had felt the lightning's path through the air before she even knew what she was doing.

A tingling sensation trickled along her arms as she summoned her very first bolt. _Atta girl,_ a voice had rumbled so softly that Thalia wondered if she had imagined it. She didn't have time to ponder this however, as her strike force struck the Dragon with a cracking noise that echoed around the cave.

The monster had let out a shriek that popped her ear-drums and sent her stumbling backwards. But it wasn't finished yet, tired of playing with its foo, the Dragon lumbered forwards. This time Luke was ready for it.

In the time Thalia summoned her bolt, he had grabbed his sword and taken up a fighting stance, defensive at first, but now that she had been blown backwards he had changed into an aggressive stand taking a couple of steps forwards so that he could cover her.

"Are you alright?" he asked swinging his weapon threateningly as the Dragon advanced. Thalia nodded, before climbing shakily to her feet. Luke sprang forwards, sword already dropped to hit the monster with maximum impact. Thalia watched with satisfaction as she regained her balance, Luke leaping and stabbing unmercifully. The Dragon snarled and forgetting completely about its other victim swung its head at its unwelcome passenger. Luke danced out of range, hiding behind one of the Dragons own spiked scales. Thalia had to admire his bravery, or stupidity as it could have turned out had she not decided to join in at that point.

Spotting the creeping tail that Luke had not noticed Thalia let out a yell that caused Luke to look around and spot the offending spiked attacker. He chopped of the club at the end and the tail recoiled almost violently nearly knocking Thalia over again. Luke grinned at her and dropped to her side, skipping backwards easily as the Dragon clumped in a circle attempting to follow its prey.

"D'you suppose you could do the lightning thing again?" he asked, breathlessly as the Dragons eyes refocused on the two of them.

"I don't know, maybe," Thalia replied grabbing her mace canister that she had forgotten about until that moment.

_Stupid girl,_ she scolded herself.

"Try," he urged her dodging a blast of fire that informed the pair that the Dragon had decided to kill them. "I'll distract him," before Thalia could say something along the lines of, 'I don't know if I can summon another bolt' he was gone.

Thalia dragged her mind away from the battle, or the taunting of very angry monster skirmish as she renamed it.

"Hey pig-face," Luke yelled waving his sword madly and performing some sort of chicken dance to get the Dragon's attention. He certainly did that, Thalia had never imagined a monster could look so completely bewildered; it was obviously not the reaction it had been hoping for.

"Yes you! Mr Monster up there, are you always that ugly or did you dress up specifically?" Thalia closed her eyes and tried to pull the lightning towards her. No electricity currents, not even a gust of wind. Thalia scrunched up her lids, concentrating all her focus and energy into one bolt.

_Please Dad, if you're up there help me,_ Thalia paused one moment for any effect to take hold. She didn't hold her breath and it was luck she didn't, nothing. Anger surged over Thalia again; her Father didn't care about her. He hadn't cared about her Mom or Jason and he had never helped her before, even when she had been surrounded by monsters in a dark alley at the age of seven. He didn't care about her. Energy crackled up her arms as the fury filled her up to her spiky hair.

_Kill,_ Thalia thought grimly before releasing the bolt. It smashed down on the Dragon filling the room with blinding light as the beams if white-hot lightning rebounded off of the Dragon's scales.

She was blown backwards by something, she didn't know what her eyes were tightly closed. Once the howls ceased, Thalia opened her eyes again. She was leant against a wall; Luke had apparently been her unexpected missile due to the fact that he was half sprawled across her and half on the floor. His eyes were closed, Thalia frowned. Perhaps he had been too close to the Dragon when she struck it, that thought didn't bode well. She checked his pulse, it was beating. Faintly, but most definitely there.

"Urgh," he groaned shifting. Thalia bent over him and slapped his face. It worked.

"Ouch," Luke's eyes flickered weakly. "Those bolts are good," he gave a wavering smile. "Do you think you could sit me against the wall?"

Thalia didn't know what seemed to embarrass him more, the fact that he had been taken down by a girl whilst fighting a Dragon or the fact he had to ask for help. She gently shoved him off her lap and onto the stones beside her. Luke grunted but other than that expressed no other objections.

"Thank you," Luke said before beginning to push his way up the wall, Thalia followed his gaze to the rucksack that lay a few feet away. She got up a fetched it for him, he looked down. "I would have been fine," he said.

"Don't worry," Thalia replied; "I want to help," Luke sat there, processing these words for a moment before smiling.

"Could you unzip the first pocket?" Thalia did so, "now inside there's a sachet of small square items, could you pull them out?" Once Thalia had done that he held out a hand for the bag and them broke off the tiniest amount off one of the chunks and chewed it.

"Nice," he said slowly before grinning and standing with absolutely no effort what so ever. Thalia felt her mouth drop open. "Ambrosia," Luke laughed, "it heals us, just don't eat too much or you explode."

Thalia had shut her mouth quickly as she watched Luke stretch his arms.

"Where did you get that?" she asked. Luke frowned and shrugged.

"I can't remember; I have ADHD so I'm not very good at memorising stuff." His face darkened and suddenly he looked quite a different person, older and tougher. Thalia studied his scowling face with apprehension; he looked up as though hearing her thoughts.

"Neither am I," Thalia added, "was I diagnosed with Dyslexia and ADHD at my old school,"

Luke grinned, "Exactly the same here, class was the most confusing thing ever. It even beats running into a bunch of monsters, watching your Mom fight them off and then…" he trailed off.

"I'm good at prices though," Thalia blinked in confusion and he held up a finger in a 'bear with me' gesture. "For example that leather jacket, $12.50 and that bag… around $15?"

"$16," Thalia corrected he shrugged his shoulders and rummaged in his bag again.

"I'm better with _really_ expensive stuff; I really startled this guy when I told him how much everything he was wearing was worth," at seeing Thalia's expression he defended himself, "I was bored!"

Thalia couldn't help herself; she grinned.

"Then we had this huge argument because he was insisting that his watch was genuine and I had to keep telling him that it wasn't. By that time we had attracted quite a crowd and of course being a business man, he couldn't allow me to win an argument with people watching. He told me 'stay right where you are young man' and went to fetch a horologist who examined the watch for a couple of minutes before saying 'I'm sorry old chap but the kid's right'." He laughed before continuing.

"So then this child who'd been watching the fight jumped out of the crowd and said 'ha, Mr Poo-face'. That made him blow completely and before I had even stopped laughing he had a hand at my throat," ignoring Thalia's shocked expression, Luke carried on talking. "Two police men pulled him off before he could get a good grip and I noticed how many people there were, then I started to panic. I mean there was no way the monsters had missed that particular gathering and the cameras were already out so I teleported away."

At Thalia's confused face he grinned, "My Dad's the God of Transport,"

"Hermes," Thalia breathed and Luke grimaced.

"Unfortunately," Thalia understood exactly what he meant; the Gods weren't exactly stellar examples of parents. "Anyway the next bit is a little more boring, caught a cab driven by a monster who kept calling me 'Marco Richard'." He laughed, easing the tension that had filled the air as their parents came up and Thalia chuckled too.

Luke smiled again; he had one of those smiles that simply lit up his entire face until all you wanted to do was stare at that grin for ever. She recognized something about it too, strange she had definitely never met him before; she would have remembered that. Thalia found herself smiling back for what must have been the first time since the McKenzie incident as she referred to it.

And although she would never admit it; her first genuine smile since she had lost Jason.

"My name's Luke by the way," he held out his hand, it was smoking and scarred and… _alive_. Thalia would never be able to describe what she had felt as she took his own hand.

It was like something that she had been waiting for her entire life to happen and never known. It was something that went beyond admiration, something that made Thalia's brain spark and her skin tingle.

"My name's Thalia," she said breathlessly and they held their hands in the shake for a couple of seconds longer than necessary because Thalia couldn't let go and Luke made no move to do so himself.

"So," Luke shuffled and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Are you going somewhere particular?"

Thalia shrugged her shoulders, although her heart was pumping wildly. Maybe… just maybe…

"'Cause, if you aren't… then two eyes are always better than one," Luke shrugged and sighed before grinning again. "So, want to become a team?"

_Thalia&Luke_

Luke's brain was in turmoil. He looked back at the girl with electric eyes in front of him. Her lips were parted as she stared into space with a look of absolute wonder printed across her face. The lightning bolts that she had been threatening him with fizzled out with popping noises but Thalia didn't even notice. Luke frowned, when he suggested they become a team he hadn't planned on waiting around for hours for her to stare at the air above his head. He didn't even know why he had offered to become a team with her. She was small, lithe and didn't seem to have any particular talents, excluding the lightning thing which Luke mused could come in handy.

Shaking his head in confusion, Luke slugged his backpack across his shoulders. He'd gone and done it now. He'd invited a younger kid with him. Sure she was powerful, but… Luke didn't ever want to watch a friend die again. Thalia blinked suddenly, shaking her head groggily. She glanced at him sideways before thrusting her bag onto her shoulders and marching off in what seemed like a completely random direction to Luke.

"Hey, where are you going?" he called after her, hopping from one foot to the other.

"Nowhere in particular," she answered, barely slowing down. "I just don't think that we should hang around in the same area for too long. There are two of us, we're both children of major Gods and together we're going to attract more attention than ever." Luke caught up to Thalia just in time for her to start making a zigzag through the trees at the edge of the thickening forest. She looked up at him through spiky hair and blue eyes.

"You _can_ fight properly, can't you?" she asked slowly, "not just the weird dance moves you performed while distracting the Dragon." Luke frowned angrily, of course he could fight properly, he'd survived on the streets hunted by monsters for four years without another set of eyes to help him and he didn't need one now. Luke fixed his most heated look at Thalia who looked slightly unnerved.

"The only reason I was dancing was so that you could do the lightning thing," he said slowly. "I can fight, well." Thalia nodded and Luke smiled again, relieved to have solved that problem. Then struck by another thought he said; "you can fight too, right, not _just_ the lightning thing?"

Thalia looked affronted. She nodded curtly before patting her pocket where Luke assumed her mace canister was kept.

"Just checking," Luke grinned again and then sighed happily. He wasn't traveling with a liability who'd scream whenever a kitchen knife went near her. Her clothes suggested this, of course, but over the years Luke had grown used to the fact that appearances meant very little. For example, he'd once seen a little girl with blond hair in a tight bun and a pink tutu karate kick a man right where it hurt. Of course it had turned out to be a monster that had been attempting to sneak up on him, somehow the little girl, like his Mother, had been able to see what even he hadn't been able to.

He looked back at Thalia as they squeezed past a wall of trees that had decided to block their path. She would be a partner in monster-slaughtering; that was it. No friendships, no comradeships, just practical thinking. One thing was certain, he would be calling the shots; he decided where they were heading, how they'd get there and when to attack. He was eldest and he was in charge.

(One day, Luke would look back on this moment ruefully and wonder where he'd gone wrong with such a focused and promising thought.)

"D'you know where the Hoover Dam is?" Thalia asked.

"Las Vegas," Luke responded automatically. Thalia nodded twice, apparently deep in thought.

"That's where we're heading," she stated. Luke stopped abruptly.

"No, not Las Vegas," Thalia looked at him, eyes questioning. "I just have this funny feeling about it…" Luke trailed off, wincing at his case. Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"You're scared of a country because you have a funny feeling about it?" she asked incredulously.

"I never said I was scared!" Luke defended himself immediately and even before she said her next words knew exactly what trap he had walked straight into.

"Then you'll have no problem going there," Thalia said triumphantly. Luke scowled at her and she smirked before leaping over a log. Luke clambered after her. "Can you teleport us there?" she asked him. Luke looked at her in disbelief.

"No, I can only teleport short distances at once _and_ it needs to place I've been before. Also, even if I simply teleport to the edge of the forest I'd still need at least four hours sleep before being able to focus. That's one of the reasons that the cab-monster managed to take me by surprise." Thalia mumbled something about stupid sons of Hermes that made the sky rumble.

"Oh, shut up," they said irritably together.

"Las Vegas," Thalia said, before scrambling over a large rock. Luke nodded absently, smiling again at his new-found companion.

But they would never be friends, Luke reminded himself, they'd be team mates, and nothing else.

* * *

**Please Review!**


	7. The Little Mandrake

**A/N: Hola, amigos! Could it be… a chapter?! I'm really sorry about taking so long but I had loads of h/w and then I totally lost all my inspiration for everything minus the final scene. You can all thank ThaliaLover for her PM that really gave me the kick in the butt I needed to start writing this. Please excuse any grammatical/spelling/plot issues (although telling me about them would be nice for future edits) because I felt so bad for not updating in forever I just typed and then uploaded without even a quick check. Thanks to SunWillRise(a bunch of numbers that I can't remember), FadedSunset, and the afore mentioned ThaliaLover!**

**This kind of proves how getting not so many reviews can make someone stop writing… (Hint hint) Now, on with the chapter before this A/N becomes insanely long. (Oops)**

* * *

_Finding Home_

_Chapter 6: The Little Mandrake_

Thalia glanced behind at her companion, he was walking quickly; feet making no sound and Thalia became suddenly conscious of the sucking noises that erupted whenever she placed a boot into a swampy patch of earth. Although he seemed deep in thought, he had an easy grin on his face. Abruptly, he noticed her watching him and instead of smiling wider as she had come to expect, a scowl darkened his expression. Thalia faced ahead of her again, feeling slightly hurt that he already seemed to regret asking her with him. It had only been twenty minutes for Zeus' sake!

She looked back to see how her companion was handling the muddy-ground that was becoming more and more like quicksand every step only to find that he was no longer there. Blinking in confusion that quickly turned to worry Thalia was about to start walking back the way she had come. Maybe he'd fallen into the marsh, or he might have just lost his way. Was that even possible for a son of Hermes? Thalia made a mental note to ask, once Luke seemed to be in a better mood. Twisting her body free of the bog, she began to turn around fully when a voice from the direction that she had been heading in made her jump.

"Where are you going?" Luke was lounging by a pitifully bark-less his clothes were barely soiled at all. Thalia scanned her own clothes; there wasn't an inch of black to be seen, in less than five minutes she had turned into a swamp monster. Luke seemed to be in a better mood already, apparently showing off made him happy. She would have to deal with that soon, be for now she could wait until she was out of the mud. Thalia estimated the distance between her and the edge of the marsh, about an arms' length away, she looked at Luke and his self-satisfied smirk and using her best cutesy voice asked:

"Could you help me out, please?" Luke blinked at her, once then twice in apparent astonishment. Then he grinned and pulled something out of his bag. It was small and thin and wrapped in some sort of shiny covering, she watched as Luke peeled of the wrapper with glee and had to stop herself from cursing as he held a Snickers bar teasingly above his mouth.

"The chance of me helping you out of that swamp on the scale of one to ten would be around the chance of me giving you this amazing, amazing Snickers bar." Luke scratched his head, glancing from her to the chocolate; he smiled and popped the candy in his mouth, chewing slowly. "Oh, that is good. Sorry, it looks like you're stuck." Thalia watched incredulously as Luke flopped down and drew his sword. "It looks like Molly and I are going to be having some quality time together."

"Molly?" Thalia spluttered through a gulp of dirt. It didn't taste as good as the chocolate Luke was eating, in fact it didn't taste good full-stop. "You named your sword, Molly?" She wasn't sure what surprised her more, the fact that her new companion seemed to have mood swings or that he had named his sword possibly the most un-frightening name ever.

"Is something wrong with the name, Molly?" Luke asked, his voice sounded dangerous, as if he'd had this conversation before and it hadn't ended well for the other party.

"No," Thalia said through gritted teeth. "Molly's a lovely name." Luke wiped a sleeve over the sword's celestial bronze blade, almost lovingly.

"Elvendork was the other name I was considering." Luke mused thoughtfully and Thalia coughed up mud again. She was absolutely incredulous. Was this boy so stupid, so adolescent-like that he couldn't spot when someone needed help? And '_Molly_ vs. _Elvendork__'_? Thalia shuddered and not because some mud had just seeped its way up her trouser leg, although that wasn't a particularly nice experience either. She felt Luke's curious gaze on her and smiled at him winningly. He had a thoughtful expression on his face, which vanished as he noticed her watching.

Thalia struggled another mud-lagged step forwards and barely stopped herself from freaking as the mud was suddenly up to her waist. This sludge was a little too much like quicksand for comfort. Abruptly, Thalia decided that she had had enough.

"Luke, get your lazy butt down here and pull me out of this swamp before I order a lightning bolt to kick it." She had tried civility and now she had moved onto plan B: vulgarity and threats. Luke grinned at her and leapt from the tree root, where he had been apparently setting up camp for the evening, to the edge of the marsh. He held out a hand and motioned for Thalia to grab onto him. Thalia stared at him in disbelief, "You ignore me when I ask politely, but help the second I become an insufferable kid?"

"You sounded more like an inexperienced but tough pre-teenager." Luke mused, "And I suppose I could always go back to my tree root if you want to be polite again." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Just get me out of this mud, Luke."

"Of course," Luke tugged at her arm and Thalia felt herself shift and the mud retract from around her waist, she breathed out in relief, and then the mud was around her shoulders and Luke's hand was no longer in hers. "Thalia!" Luke called, he sounded panicked as if he hadn't just shoved her into the mud and teleported her somewhere, as he must have done, Thalia thought crossly. She looked around her and frowned, she didn't recognise this part of the marsh. "Thalia? This isn't funny," She heard some rustling to her left, Luke must have used his teleporting ability to try to scare her.

"I know, Luke." Thalia spat out some grunge and wiped her tongue around her teeth, yuck. "This isn't funny at all, so get me out of here before I make good on my promise of electrocution!" Squelching footsteps from ahead of her almost made her jump and until she heard Luke's cussing voice from there. Strange, he must have teleported back… but, if he was ahead of her, what _was_ that rustling sound from her left? Thalia suddenly wanted to be out of the swamp for a bigger reason than that it was dirty and wet.

"Thalia? Marco!" Thalia gave up trying to haul herself out of the bog and shouted back:

"Luke over here!" The rustling got closer and was it just her, or did it seem to be coming from behind her too? Luke's squelching footsteps got closer.

"Marco!"

"Polo!" Thalia yelled back; yup, the noise was coming from behind her and from her right too. "Polo, polo! Luke, help me!" Thalia struggled desperately as the rustling closed in around her. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see what it was.

"Thalia?" Luke sounded barely a metre away. "Marco?"

"Polo," Thalia coughed, the mud was in her mouth and something was dragging at her ankles in an uncomforting way. Luke burst through the undergrowth and Thalia somehow between being grabbed and floundering in the muck managed to experience a satisfied feeling as she realised that he too had mud splattered up his trousers, although he seemed to be able to walk on the swamp. _It must be a son of Hermes thing;_ Thalia shrugged it off and extended an arm from the gloop. She fully expected Luke to help her out and was therefore surprised when he leapt over her, sword drawn.

Thalia slowly turned, peering around Luke's legs to see what he had deemed more important than rescuing her. Her eyes widened as she found the source of the rustling sound. The strong scent of apples washed over her as she stared at the gruesome, warped girls. They were green-skinned with leaves sprouting from their heads instead of hair. Creepers were wrapped around their bodies and violet eyes darted disconcertingly from her to Luke. They hissed at the sight of the celestial weapon, but instead of drawing back as most nymph-like beings would; they edged closer, flicking vine-like tongues.

"Back off," Luke said, he voice dark. "I can and I _will_ kill you all." The plant-like creatures formed a circle around them and Thalia turned to face the front so that she could keep an eye on the ones Luke couldn't see.

"A daughter of Zeus," one of them murmured. "And a son of Hermes." The loop became quiet. "The boy threatens us, should we let them go sisters?" She wore a flower crown on her head. Boos jeered from the crowd and the leader smiled, showing pointed teeth. Thalia watched bated breathed as one vicious nymph stepped forward.

"I will vouch for the son of Hermes; he is, after all, a very handsome boy." She licked her lips. The leader nodded:

"And will anyone speak for the daughter of Zeus?" There was silence. Thalia felt a hand touch the back of her neck and barely concealed a yelp before realising that it was Luke reaching for her jacket hood. He slowly began to pull her out of the mud, using her coat as a sort of leaver. Thalia felt her legs pop free of the swamp with twin sucking noises just as she began to speak again. "Son of Hermes, you are free to go." Luke pulled Thalia into a standing position and precipitously a warning shriek sounded from one of the things on her side. It was the most painful noise Thalia had ever heard, like the loudest highest sound that could operate on human frequency and Thalia swore she could feel her ear-drums pop. It was probably just her imagination, she reasoned after a second of experimental thinking, as she could still hear the pitchy racket. Then it stopped and Thalia spent a few seconds checking that her brain was still working.

"… Miriam," the leader was saying when Thalia tuned back into the conversation. "And you," she jabbed a finger in Luke's direction. "We were going to let you go, but now we'll have to reconsider that decision." She paused for a split-second. "I've thought about it; sisters ATTACK!" She screamed a battle cry and Thalia could feel tears in her eyes at the sheer elevation of the scream. It seemed to pierce her brain and force any rational thoughts from her head with dogged vigour.

Thalia launched herself into action, back to back with Luke, as if they had been fighting together for years instead of a fluke attack against a Dragon, where either one of them had been unconscious at alternative moments. She swung her spear determinedly at the plant-like monsters, beheading a couple of them in the first few instants before reverting back to the self-taught, jab and stab method. Luke's style was far more sophisticated, he swiped and thrust with a kind of grace that Thalia assumed he had learnt through some kind of lessons, but Thalia wasn't really interested in style; how many monsters you killed was a more important time-consumer/hobby in her opinion to learning how to fight with elegance.

ADHD is usually a good thing to have in a fight, being able to keep track of your enemies motions and fight, although sometimes if too much was on a demigod's mind, it just made them vulnerable to off-license attacks. This was why, when Thalia began to wonder how her foes kept their leaves so shiny; one monster took advantage of the distraction and before Thalia's head got back to the swing, she had a jagged rock to her throat. Usually, being threatened with a rock would have made Thalia laugh, but there was a sickening looking purple liquid dripping from the edge. The nymph-creature laughed.

"You are quite right to stay still, daughter of Zeus. This stone, whilst not as simply dangerous as you blade; has Mandrake venom in its apertures." She pressed the stone to her throat and Thalia felt one of its spiky ledges rub away at her sensitive skin at her collarbone. "One wrong move and you'll know nothing more, _sister_."

"Why do you want to kill me?" Thalia grabbed hold of a life-line in the form of the monster complaining about injustice, if she could stall for long enough, maybe she could get to her spear.

"As if you don't know," huffed the nymph and her mauve eyes widened as Thalia shook her head and she launched into story mode. "It was all Father's fault; we used to be beautiful, with ivory skin and proper trees to live in. We had the most wonderful voices known to… well… everyone. Even the Mer and Sirens had nothing on us and our melodies." She wiped away a tear and Thalia wriggled a hand towards her spear. It was knocked away by a flailing hand of the crying plant-monster. "Then Pomonie, curse her wicked soul, became besotted by one the Mer. She traded her legs for a tail using a potion given to her by the Titan traitor, Hecate and was allowed three days to make the Mer-man fall in love with her, she failed. When we found out, we ran to Hecate and gave up our beautiful voices in exchange for our sister's safe return. All she had to do was kill the Mer she loved, she didn't do it; she died and our voices were lost!" she wailed. Thalia saw Luke's eyes narrow as he looked over and saw her current position. He slashed impatiently at a couple more monsters and drove several back into the surrounding wooded area.

"… We planned an attack on Hecate, for our voices to return as Pomonie had not returned to her home after she refused to repay us. We almost succeeded in sending her to the pits of Tartarus too, but Father Zeus intervened."

Thalia interrupted: "_Father_ Zeus?"

"Father Zeus," she confirmed with a scowl. "He told us that we were to be cursed for attacking a Goddess and he cast us away, Hecate gave us voices, but not our beautiful ones, instead we have the cry of the extinct" she gave a bone rattling cry, "Griffin or _V__ociferationis__A__les__e__quus__._ And to make matters worse, when we returned we found that our reflections had changed and that by attacking a Goddess we had aligned ourselves against Aphrodite who took away the last of our beauty." She spat on the ground. "Curse the Gods," Thalia waited for a rumble, but none came; apparently the Gods were used to this treatment from these… things. "We are known as Mandrakes now," finished the Mandrake sadly, wiping away some chlorophyll-green tears.

"If it makes you feel better, Zeus doesn't seem to like me either." Thalia offered, maybe if she played her cards right…

"Really?" The Mandrake perked up slightly. "Has he cursed you too?"

"No," Thalia said truthfully.

"Has he cut off all your beautiful hair?" She nodded towards Thalia's (admittedly messy) hair.

"No," Thalia wondered whether she should feel insulted or grateful that she was still alive, she decided on an emotion somewhere between the two. "It's more that he hasn't done anything." The Mandrake nodded understandingly.

"Olympians aren't the best parents in the world-" she began, but was cut off abruptly by a celestial bronze sword stabbing through her arm. "Hey!" She began to disintegrate.

Luke dogged the rock she hurled at him.

"That was quite an interesting story you were telling," he said.

"Thank you, I suppose." The Mandrake growled. "Although, I find it more tragic."

"It sounds a little like an alternate more violent version of '_The Little Mermaid'_," Luke dropped to clang a pebble from his blade and Thalia grabbed her spear.

"Don't mention that movie to me, Athena was being entirely malicious when she gave one of children that idea!"

"So did that other one you don't like-"

"Pomonie,"

"Yes, her. Did she fall in love with King Triton or something?"

"No!" screamed the Mandrake, tearing out clumps of leaves in despair, "she fell in love with the mighty Mer Bill!"

"Bill?" Luke sounded incredulous as Thalia stabbed the Mandrake in the leg. She whirled around, screaming an ear-splitting exclamation of hatred as she suddenly recognized that she was the only Mandrake left. Thalia was about to dodge her strike by darting left, when she realised that her feet couldn't move from the ground. Thick, twining vines were holding her legs in place. Thalia felt a rock press against the side of her face again but before it could penetrate her skin, Luke swiftly cut of the Mandrake's head and instantly she became a pile of dust on the floor. The deadly rock seemed to hang in the air next to Thalia's neck for an extra second, before falling. Luke cut the vines wrapped around her legs quickly and together they ran. It began to rain as they sprinted past some willow trees that seemed to groan a warning. Sludge grappled at her boots and Luke was muttering about stupid Gods, which made the sky thunder. He grabbed her hand, and before Thalia could blink, they were out of the marsh, Luke's backpack by her feet.

"Urrgh," Luke's eye-lids were fluttering as if he was unsure whether he could trust Thalia to not get kidnapped by some other random relatives. The reality of the encounter hit home hard, her Father had cursed his own daughters because they wanted to defend a sister who had fallen for the wrong guy.

"I'll take first watch," Thalia said, her brain protested wildly. She wanted to sleep, but Thalia knew that it wouldn't be fair to make Luke stay up first. He had taken out a load of evil relatives and teleported them both away from the marsh, also; his eyes had purple bruises around them stating clearly that he hadn't slept well for a while. Luke nodded and closed his eyes fully. As his breathing slowed, Thalia pulled out his bag and rummaged through it until she uncovered a Snickers bar. She peeled off the wrapper and was about to take a bite of the delicious chocolaty and peanut treat when a protesting voice sounded from beside her.

"Just because you're taking first watch doesn't mean you can eat my candy!" Luke didn't really sound annoyed, just resigned.

"I thought you were asleep!" Thalia knew that she wasn't helping her cause, but her mouth was running away without her brain, again.

"I know when someone's stealing my stuff, a useful son of Hermes thing," Luke said grudgingly. "Anyway, you're still about to eat my Snickers."

"I'll owe you one," Thalia popped the candy in her mouth, savouring the calorific treat that would have horrified her Mother.

"You owe me, like, twenty." Luke agreed and Thalia shrugged. "I was having a really strange dream-"

"You'd only just closed your eyes!" Thalia protested.

"So, my dreams are like little movies, the credits come up first. Doesn't that happen to you?" Thalia's disbelieving gawp was all the answer he needed. "No? Well, the title had just come up…"

"Yeah, yeah," Thalia mumbled around a mouthful of chocolaty goodness. "Now go to sleep, before I do."

"Don't you dare, anyway; it was called 'The Little Mandrake'!" Thalia gawked at her companion.

"I don't know you," she declared. "Now go to sleep before I knock you out, you insane boy!" Luke grinned.

"Night," and he was off, his breathing slowed instantaneously and Thalia seriously wondered whether he had an off switch or something, which allowed him to go from awake to comatose in the space of half a second. She brushed a strand of golden-blond hair from his forehead in a sisterly manner before turning back to the darkness. Luke looked peaceful in sleep, like he had the same dreams a five-year-old would, and Thalia wasn't going to let anything disturb him when he was so serene and quiet.

Resting her spear against her leg, Thalia tapped her fingers on the bark of the tree behind her; keeping still wasn't a skill that came naturally to her. She needed a distraction. Something closed around her fingers, Luke's hand. Thalia twisted her wrist so that she could hold his hand easier and rested her back against the tree with a sigh. Suddenly she was acutely aware of every little movement Luke made, from a twitch of a toe to a flicker of his eyes. It looked like she had found her distraction.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again; sorry this is all Thalia's POV, but I felt a bit like I was neglecting her last chapter as I find Luke easier to write.**


	8. I'm No Damsel in Distress

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, this chapter is 4,500+ words. Thank you to my beta-reader: **WithPaperAndPen **and to my reviewers. I have just been struck by a plot-bunny for where this is going, but I really want to change the name of this from **Twisting Threads: Finding Home** to **Twisting Threads: Two's Company**. Please tell me if you think this will be a confusing change and don't want it to happen.**

* * *

_Chapter 7: I'm No Damsel in Distress_

Luke wasn't quite sure what made him wake up. All he knew was that one second he had been on a white sanded beach and the next a gnarled tree root was digging into his back. He groaned aloud, head pounding from the vivacity of the dream. It had felt so important, so real that he almost laughed; he sounded like a bad cliché. Even now, Luke could almost taste the salty air and feel the coldly chilling wind that contrasted with the warmth of the climbing sun. As it rose over the water, it looked like the sea had turned to fire or molten gold, or something of that like. Luke sighed and shook himself out of 'poetical mode'. He would have time to think about his dream later, once he was sure that no nasties had stuck up on them during the night, the night that Thalia apparently hadn't been able to stay awake through.

Luke began to stretch, throwing back his left arm, but a gentle pressure on his right kept him from moving. He rolled his head to the side, wincing as his neck cracked. His hand was lying on the mossy floor, scarred and grimy, and holding it in a loose grip was Thalia's paler hand. Luke shuffled awkwardly on the moist ground and attempted to pry his hand away from Thalia's. The silly girl had forgotten to wake him up before sleeping! That would have given plenty of monsters enough time to sneak up on them. For Zeus' sake, if she wasn't going to start thinking clearly, he'd have to ditch her during the night! Luke shook his head; he didn't want to do that.

Thalia shifted, her coiled form uncurling like a cat. She drew her left hand closer to her body, tightening her grasp and Luke moaned in annoyance. If she was holding him still, he couldn't check the perimeter, which, thanks to her, had to be checked. Thalia sat up suddenly and Luke cussed quietly as electrical charges passed through him.

"_Hades_," he jumped to his feet, pulling free of Thalia and jumping wildly like an excited puppy to rid his body from the pins-and-needles feeling that was currently inhabiting it. He scowled, "I don't suppose you could try and wake up quietly rather than," he hopped on his left leg, "you know_,__electrocuting me_?!" Thalia watched him amusedly with the apathy of that drained squirrel after losing all of its nuts. (Luke had enjoyed digging them all up and hiding them; squirrels weren't exactly his 'target audience', but it was better to be stealing from small rodents than not at all.) She shrugged slowly, easing herself to her feet and grabbing her spear.

"S'not my fault," she mumbled, dragging at her knotted hair which was sticking up on one side like a demented cat's. "You shouldn't have woken me up,"

"I- _I shouldn't have_-" Luke began, aghast and slightly annoyed. "What the- You know what I don't even care, let's just get going." Thalia nodded sleepily, rubbing her eyes and grabbing her bag, shrinking her weapon down to mace canister size. Luke threw his sword into the air, grabbing his pack and catching it in golf-club mode. Thalia blinked and muttered something that sounded vaguely like, 'Show-off'. Luke smirked and, using his club as a stick, began to head onwards. Thalia hurried after him. They walked in silence for a while, each of them concentrating on avoiding the spiked branches and twisting tree roots that seemed to sprout in front of them within seconds. Thalia broke the silence.

"Why does your sword turn into a golf-club?" she asked, studying his silver putter uneasily and patting her front pocket. "It's not exactly _smaller_ than your actual weapon and it's just as likely to get confiscated." Luke shrugged, unbothered by her question. It was something he had asked himself, and even sometimes his sword, on many occasions. It was just what Molly did, just like how Thalia's spear changed into a mace canister and not a ring. It was just how it was. When he relayed this to Thalia she nodded, shoving her way past a large pine tree that showered them in itchy pins, and asked another question. "What if security tried to take it?" Luke smiled wickedly, lighting up his face in a weird light.

"They could try," his voice was laughing as he poked at a blackberry bush. "But I would brain them with a golf club." Thalia giggled and abruptly covered her mouth, Luke raised an eyebrow as they navigated around a large mound of mud; Thalia didn't strike him as a 'giggling type'. Luke blinked, and let out a joyous yell; bouncing forwards like a kid in a candy store. Then he spun around so fast he looked like a blur: "We're almost there! Let's go, before something nasty catches up!"

"Almost where?" Luke rolled his eyes as Thalia tripped over another root, catching her arm before she could tumble onto the soggy, gritty earth. This girl's coordination skill left a lot to be desired, not that he would mention that until he was certain that she wouldn't kill him, Luke looked at her. _That__might take a while_, he mused. Then he grinned, _I've got time_. Luke froze, 'I've got time?' Where had that come from? He had no idea how long he would stick with this girl; it could dangerous, for both of them, if they stuck together for too long. Luke knew that as a demigod, he was his own priority, nothing should be as important as his own life; but already, he felt that the daughter of Zeus was different, important, and he had risked his life for her, twice. "Oi, stop staring, Lukie and tell me! Almost where?!"

Sighing Luke replied wearily, "Almost at the edge of the forest, Thals, and I wasn't staring, just thinking." Thalia pulled her arm free and took a step towards him, she was several inches shorter, but still managed to get right in his face as she threatened him with a sparking glare.

"Don't call me Thals."

"Don't call me Lukie." They glowered at each other for a couple of moments until Luke's golf-club abruptly changed back into a sword, glowing bronze. Luke span round; something nasty had caught up.

An adrenaline rush shocked through Luke like an energy drink before a race. He raised Molly above his head and heard Thalia cussing as she mirrored his movements; her vocabulary, Luke decided, was foul. The "something nasty" glared at them like they had just kicked a puppy, an appropriate simile as it turned out. A large hellhound stalked towards them, red eyes glowing. It snarled and feinted to the left. Immediately, Thalia and Luke both dodged to the right, causing the monster to lunge almost desperately and snap at them. Luke, in a fit of chivalry that he was certain didn't belong to him, jumped between the hellhound and Thalia; who fell headlong into a gorse bush, swearing profusely. Luke winced as he saw the unforgiving, prickly branches tear holes through her jacket's netted sleeves in seconds. But, before Luke could extend a hand to help her up, the hellhound let out a savage bark, Luke had never heard such a frightening 'woof', and a loud answering squeal cut through the air like a knife through butter, or a son of Hermes through tension.

Thalia let out a yell and stood, arms clasped around a wriggling, black lump of fur which appeared to be attempting to bite its way free of its captors arms if Thalia's look of annoyed pain was anything to go by. At the sight of the ugly clump of wiry fur, which Luke now recognized as a minuet version of the full-grown hellhound, gave a cry of anger and leapt towards Thalia, knocking Luke _extremely_ heroically to one side and snapped at her pup with her teeth.

Before Luke could even register her movements, Thalia grabbed the cub's scruff of neck fur and held the struggling hellhound puppy high in the air with a threatening presence about her.

"I won't think twice about snapping your cubs' neck," Thalia stated calmly, as though spouting a shopping list. Luke wanted to groan, if she- "Just give me a reason." Luke moaned into his hand, macho comments were fine, but _macho clichés_? And when talking to one of Hades' minions, it was like expecting help from the Olympians. In other words; completely useless.

But, to Luke's surprise, the hellhound seemed to be thinking intently about Thalia's statement, as if it knew she would kill her pup without hesitation if provoked.

Red eyes ploughed into Thalia's with such intensity that Luke would have taken a step back. 'Would have' being the key words, his rather difficult task of avoiding gorse bushes seemed to be getting tougher a tougher as the hellhound seemed to swell in size, it seemed that the hellhound was in fact, not fully grown.

The baby hellhound gave a whimper and the mother monster's eyes zeroed in on her pup. The two dogs stared at each other, both of them making a constant low growling noise deep in their throats. Luke shifted uncomfortably towards Thalia; she twisted the cub in her grip slightly to shake it until the whining petered out. Immediately the, almost, full grown hellhound tensed and Luke felt a cold feeling wash over him as he realized that Thalia had made a bad and possibly fatal mistake. Thalia, oblivious to the sudden narrowing of the mother hellhound's eyes, began to slowly place the pup of the ground.

"See," she spoke softly, obviously still thinking she had the upper hand. "If you just let us go, you can have your baby back."

"Thalia," Luke started towards her, placing a hand out to prevent her from dropping the dog.

"No, Luke," Thalia said, clearly annoyed but speaking quietly still. "Can't you see I'm doing something?"

"You're bargaining with a hellhound!" Luke was disbelieving, "Of course, I can appreciate how you would communicate, seeing how the two of you seem to operate on the same IQ level," Thalia's evil glare didn't stop Luke, who hadn't been blessed with the ability to sense when he was seriously close to being blown up or electrocuted by an angry girl, continued bravely, "but I'm certain you aren't the same species at all, however you seem to be taking this…THIS DOGS _OBVIOUS_ BLOOD-LUST AS A PROVISO ONLY! And _still_, you-" The Luke was interrupted by a huge wall of darkness crashing into him. _Why is being tossed around my thing today?_ He wondered despairingly as a thorn bush rose to greet him.

When Luke clambered out of the thorns, sword clenched in one fist, eyes dilated with the pumping of his heart, he found a bedraggled Thalia battling two hellhounds. When she saw he was up, Thalia shouted for him to take the cub. Slightly miffed that he only got the baby, Luke swung his weapon determinedly, if he was going to take the smaller, weaker and younger opponent, he was going to do it with so much style that everyone would be forced to wear sunglasses to be around him! Sure, saying that he'd battled a little hellhound was a lot more impressive than saying he had also let a girl two years younger than him take on the mother… but hey! Details had never been Luke's strong suite.

The cub was actually a very good fighter, clearly taught by the best, but uncertain. It questioned every movement before and after making it, and in a fight, it's worse to be wavering than needing a bathroom break. At least needing the toilet spurs you on.

Luke cornered the puppy against a tree easily, but a the hellhound let out a frightened call for its mother which was answered with a desperate wail somewhere to the far left, Luke broke one of his rules. Don't falter when going for the kill. No matter how helpless the monster seems; if you don't kill it, it _will_ kill you.

In the split second that Luke paused, stopping his blade an inch from the hellhound's furry belly, it attacked. This time the cub seemed more sure of itself, certain of its power and although Luke was far too good a fighter to be beaten by an oversized pooch, he found himself unable to do more than send a few attacking strikes, all of which were deflected. _I guess I'm just going to have to wait for Thalia to rescue me_, Luke thought reluctantly before grimacing, had he really just thought that? A sudden feeling of embarrassment caught him and Luke struck blindly at the mirage of being rescued by an eleven year old.

The hellhound pup howled in agony as the blow struck home hard through its defences. Unwillingly, Luke felt his emotions tap into his fighting, bringing back raw memories of school and the headmistress' office and a class laughing at a joke he didn't get. An ugly flush began to burn its way up Luke's neck towards his face as he relived some of the worst memories he had that didn't involve a pair of glowing eyes and a rasping voice.

Him, standing at the front of the class, for not having done the homework; it wasn't his fault that he'd spent the whole of the evening hiding in a closet. He, sitting in his seat half an hour past home time because he hadn't finished the set chapters of _'Alice in Wonderland'_ by Lewis Carol, who Luke was sure, had only written such a confusing book to make demigods suffer. He, standing alone in the playground because nobody wanted to go near the boy who could beat everyone at football, win every race and yet still not answer even the simplest of math questions.

He, sitting by himself at the back of a classroom filled with kids talking about situations he didn't understand. (How having a parent who cared about which movies you watched was a bad thing, Luke didn't get. He wished that his mom would care about G and PG ratings.) They chatted about unimportant trivialities as they worked. Luke stared at the blackboard covered in squiggly chalked lines he couldn't understand and he knew he wouldn't be getting break. With a sigh, Luke sat back and glared out of the window, letting his pencil fall to the floor.

Present Luke stared the pile of golden dust that was settling at his feet. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before, the hot feeling of shame washed over him and angrily stabbed his sword into the tree next to him. He didn't like the fact that even after all these years, his old life still held a sway over him. Pulling Molly free from the willow he devised a plan: find Thalia, destroy something, get out of the forest, (Luke didn't know why, but having trees surrounding them seemed to focus their demigod scent, or something.) and find somewhere sheltered to sleep, where he would take first watch, eat Snickers bars and sulk. Luke half smiled, it looked as though it would be quite a day.

However, Luke found a problem with his plan pretty much as soon as he turned around. Where had Thalia gone?

Stock still, Luke listened for the clashing noise of spear on claws, either Thalia was driving off the hellhound, or the hellhound was driving off Thalia. Luke bent down to grab some snagged back fur and felt a sinking feeling as he unearthed some frenzied foot prints. He recognized Thalia's underside design, it was printed backwards and suddenly he was certain that it was the latter.

Jumping to his feet like a sprightly faun, Luke allowed his mind's eyes to roam. The forest rushed about him in nausea inducing flashes of brown and green (he was right, they were close to the edge of the forest) until he found the spot where Thalia was fighting the mother hellhound. Jerky movements looked like they were being filmed on a weak camera that missed half the scenes. Thalia let out a grunt of pain as she attempted to feint around her opponent to gain the advantage of higher ground, but the hellhound predicted her movements and cut off her escape with some rather sharp teeth. The sky darkened as Thalia was pushed back again and then the clouds opened up like a gateway to Olympus and torrents of rain came pouring down like the Olympian's – Luke cut off his own thoughts, he really didn't need them right now. A huge lightning bolt struck the hound with a resounding 'CRACK' and the gigantic dog howled in pain, but was not deterred from its mission: kill the annoying girl in punk clothes.

She began to fight with such intensity, movements getting stronger as Thalia's own only began to get clumsier and weaker. It seemed that summoning the bolt had really drained her energy. Luke began to run, following his imaginary path; tracking Thalia like a fixed GPS satellite.

He burst into the clearing, (_Why was it that they always seemed to end up in these sorts of places?_ He mentally groaned as he caught sight of, surprise, surprise; more gorse) barely winded. He had always been good at running, which didn't sound very heroic, he supposed, but had helped him escape from countless waves of monsters that he couldn't possibly defeat at certain times; like once had had got caught in a cubicle after relieving his bowels in the most sanitary place he had been in for some time. As far as Luke knew the mall was still closed due to a terrorist attack.

Thalia was fighting better now, her movements more fluid and clearer, like the rain was giving her strength. Which it might be; Luke thought, since Zeus was Lord of the Sky. Thalia let out a cry and a second lightning bolt thundered from the firmament in a jet of white light that smashed at the hellhound. Another followed and then another, until the clearing was filled with crashing bolts of electrical energy that Luke was certain would kill him if he didn't make his presence known at once. Thalia had her eyes closed in concentration and her fists clenched. _She looks like Pikachu_! Was Luke's hysterical thought as he was forced to scoot to the left and observe the ground, which had until about a second ago been occupied by him, blacken. _Thank the Styx for my speedy reactions_; Luke watched a weed shrivel into a pile of black ash. _Gods that__ could have been me!_ He let out a whimper; which when he looked back on this memory, he would edit out. After all, what someone didn't know couldn't hurt them, right?

Deciding it would be ever so slightly safer out of the trees, Luke scrambled out from the covered edge, the hellhound had a… well, hellish gleam in its eyes as her bare rump glistened a raw pink and she raked her claws across Thalia, so weakly that it barely broke the skin, but Luke was tired of waiting and almost being struck by lightning.

No matter Thalia seemed to be handling it fine, she still had one more injury than him and that would give him a better chance at fighting the monster. Not even waiting to see if the hellhound had spotted him, as Thalia certainly hadn't; Luke jumped from the edge of the glade dived into the thick of the fight with a battle cry of _'ARGH_!" which he was sure must have sounded _really_ epic. Without even thinking he stabbed upwards, knocking Thalia to one side as he did. _Face planting the ground isn't a very enjoyable experience, is it_? Luke thought a tad maliciously. The hellhound let out one final bellow of shocked pain and was washed away in a river of gold thanks to the torrential falls that Thalia hadn't stopped yet.

Luke was shaking as he felt the rain begin to drizzle and he realised that that he was soaked through, some rivulets were running from his flattened hair down his neck. The clouds began to clear up, a flickering sun beginning to shine again through the grey.

Luke felt a tap on his shoulder and swung his sword in an arabesque, spinning like a ballet dancer. Thalia stood unflinching, his sword trained at her throat. "Oh," Luke dropped his arm to his side. "You snuck up on me? That's quite a feat, congrat-OW!" Thalia pulled back her combat-booted foot, ready for another kick at Luke's shin and slammed it into him with enough force to send him flying backwards. Thalia stood over him, and for a hysterical moment, Luke was sure she would stomp on his face.

"Don't ever save me again," Thalia growled, breathing heavily. When Luke didn't say anything, she thrust her spear at the ground, not an inch from his face. "There seems to be a couple of things I need to set straight here. So, one: I am not a liability, if you think I'm going to need help with every little monster-"

"Little?" Luke asked incredulously. Cringing away from the sparking weapon he started to get up again when Thalia placed one foot on his chest.

"Nuh-uh," Luke let his head fall back to the floor resignedly. "You're going to listen to what I have to say Speedy Feet, and the more you struggle the longer you're going to be on the floor which I can't imagine is too comfortable," _She got that right_, Luke shifted awkwardly on cue, a sharp rock was poking through his jacket like an arrow pointed at his back, the thought made him feel uneasy all over again, _I really need to stop comparing everything to weaponry_. Luke thought, _before I go insane_. Thalia leered down at him, "No? Alright, as I was saying; I am no damsel in distress as I'm absolutely sure I was displaying with my exhibition of lightning, which I'm sure not even you could interpret as a firework show!" Luke opened his mouth in an attempt to defend himself, but Thalia just ploughed on and as he listened to her tirade, Luke found himself liking the spunky eleven year old more and more. "Also, I am more than capable of defending myself and _you_ if I have to, surely you haven't forgotten the entire goings on at the Dragon's cave already? And I'll have you know that I have been on the run for three years without any sort of help and I'm not going to start needing it now, thank you very much!"

With that Thalia flounced off, Luke massaged his chest, certain a boot shaped bruise would be oh so lovely and visible in a matter of hours. Slowly, Luke levered himself to his feet; sheathing the forgotten Molly into golf-club mode. Thalia was sitting on a stump, facing the opposite direction with her arms folded with the alarming likeness of a pouting celebrity. _Girls_, Luke shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. _They get upset if you stand back_and_if you help_. He sighed, and strolled over to Thalia's log.

"I'm sorry," he said simply. Thalia didn't turn around, and Luke mentally rolled his eyes; he couldn't be too careful at that moment, he reasoned. "I'm sorry for helping you defeat a monster, even though I could tell that you were winning and for not letting you claim the kill." Thalia nodded, "I'm sorry for shoving you on the ground and I'll just assure you, I _definitely_ don't think you're a liability." It was the truth now, Luke supposed, any girl who could take him out was bound to be able to handle herself in a fight, "And I most certainly haven't forgotten the events of the Dragon's cave. I owe you my life," Thalia sighed, a gust of wind blowing_;__probably carrying our scent so that lots of other lovely monsters can find us_, Luke thought grimly.

"I forgive you," Thalia said, turning back to him. "But be warned, you're on your second chance now, I only give two chances." She spoke with a solemnity that Luke could recognize; it was the way he spoke when revealing his true identity. "And I suppose I owe you too," she added grudgingly. Luke grinned suddenly, a happy feeling washing over him. Then, before Thalia could react, he engulfed her in a massive bear hug, Thalia was stiff. "What are you doing?" She yowled, beginning to squirm but Luke held on tightly.

"It's called a hug, Thalia," he said softly. "It's what friends give each other. I'm not stabbing you in the back, I promise."

"Yay," Thalia's voice sounded about as enthusiastic as Luke's when someone put the words 'extra' and 'math' together. "Can we stop now?" Luke laughed.

"At the moment I'm the only one doing any sort of hugging," he settled his chin on top of her head, rejoicing as he felt Thalia relax into his hold and feebly place her arms around him. "That's it," said Luke. They stayed like that for a minute, Thalia's head resting on his shoulder whilst he reposed his chin on her crown, until Thalia pulled free. They walked in silence to where Thalia's bag was resting against a tree; and then, Luke leading the way, they continued out of the forest.

_Thalia&Luke_

Hades' eyes narrowed as he studied the image. A daughter of Zeus? A cold chuckle began to force its way up his throat, but he forced it back down. There was no need to sound more like a mortal villain than was already needed, and it would be needed soon. The king's eyes were cruelly narrowed, but misted as if he were seeing something that wasn't really there. Swiping a gnarled hand through the image, Hades knocked the crystal orb from its tripod beside his throne. Absently, he fiddled with a bone on his chair.

What to do…He could kill her; yes that option was tempting, but predictable. No, something with more… _panache_ was in order, something that would destroy Zeus in the same way that he himself had been destroyed.

"That stupid lord," he muttered, sweeping his black robe out behind him as he left the oracle room, closing the door carefully behind him. No need for Persephone to find it. "He thinks he can simply enforce the rules on everyone else, but disregard it himself?" Another cackle attempted to break from his lips, this one filled with sorrow and unhealed grief. "My poor Maria." He said as he blinked tears out of his obsidian eyes.

This girl would not be the child of the prophecy; he would not allow it. Bianca, she would be a far worthier choice, with her reasonability and aura of kindness, so much like her mother's, but the cold side that her genes as a daughter of Hades would guarantee. And Nico, his little boy, would help her with the decisions; with the world war being still clear in his mind and a child's sense of right, they would be unstoppable.

Unless this daughter of Zeus reached sixteen first. No, it couldn't happen. He was one of the most powerful gods in existence, and the Fates would bow to his decisions.

_So now_, Hades thought as he ran a finger along the black marble carvings on the wall, _for some entertainment._

* * *

**Coming up: Luke shows Thalia his base camp in Los Angeles, Luke refuses to reveal what is being eaten and Thalia learns some unwanted survival techniques from a son of Hermes. **

**Please review if you want this to be posted before the apocalypse. **


	9. Not Much Really Not Much

**A/N: As you may or may not have noticed – depending on whether you enjoy reading this story – I have not updated in a while. I had several good reason for this; none of which I can remember at this precise moment. All I can really say to defend myself is that in updating I have increased the chances of me failing my science exams from a 50-50 chance to a 90-10 chance… I hate revision… You know, apparently, God gave everyone the skills they need for what they will become, but that excuse doesn't work when you fail something: "Sorry Miss, but God willed me to not revise at all." – They're not going to buy it.**

**Also, this chapter bores me so, so much and I didn't even get round to the funny part. I have decided, whether you like it or not, this story is going to be quite fast paced with monster attacks. Lots and lots of monster attacks. **

**To **WithPaperAndPen**,**

**Sorry I did not send you this chapter to beta, but I think that readers – if any are still around – deserve a chapter now, even if it's full of mistakes and stupid stuff.**

**To **nobody**,**

**I am not sure whether Annabeth will be brought into this story, it depends what my mood is when I end it…**

**To **ThaliaLover**,**

**So glad that you're enjoying this story! And sorry about the updating thing.**

**To **FadedSunset**,**

**Glad to have made you smile – or laugh!**

**Sorry if I forgot to reply to you, just review or PM me and I'll give you a chapter or oneshot dedicated to you… only joking… unless you actually want one… Why am I using so many ellipses? **

**So I have nearly a whole Microsoft word page of A/N which is… weird. I want a whole page now… **_Please review! Please review! Please review!_**– I mean it, you know what happens if I'm**** not motivated!**

_Chapter 8: Not Much… Really Not Much_

Thalia looked around her in amazement. "You made this?" Her voice was disbelieving, eye darting from the box chairs to the flickering log fire place. The smell of burning wood was alien and Thalia realised for the first time how little experience she actually had when it came to shelters.

"Yup," Luke's voice broke through her thoughts. "I mean, it's not much," a piece of cardboard fell from its frame opposite them. "It's _re__ally_ not much," Luke confirmed. "But it's somewhere we can rest. Luckily for us, I've been here before; I wouldn't've been able to stand building a new camp from scratch." Luke settled down by the newly recreated fire, stretching his hands towards the flames. Thalia's eyes widened as she looked around again, she caught sight of a huge warm-looking sleeping bag and a pile of blankets. She shivered; suddenly extremely cold and wishing she could burrow into the mound of fabrics.

"Hey, sit." Luke patted the box next to him and motioned to a twisting spit over the fire place. "I've got dinner," Thalia laughed weakly at the utter normality of the statement, still overwhelmed by the sheer size of the concealed safe house.

"What is it?" Thalia questioned warily, the twisting meat began to turn from brown to black. Luke pulled a face, wrinkling his nose and jutting out his lower lip.

"Thalia," he said her name slowly, "let me tell you; you really, _really_ don't want to know." Thalia laughed: Luke didn't.

"Zeus, you're serious?" Thalia spat, eyeing the burning meat with an expression of disgusted apprehension. Luke didn't answer, still turning the skewer. "Really, Luke, what is it?"

"Like I said: you really don't want to know," Luke replied and looked up at her. "Sit," he repeated. Thalia did so, the fire crackled as a chunk of the sooty meat fell from the rod into the hungry flames which turned it into ash in seconds. Thalia and Luke both turned the faces away from the fire as the rancid, fatty smell of burning meat filled the air and spat into their faces.

"Are you sure that whatever-it-is still needs to be cooking?" Thalia coughed, nodding gratefully as Luke passed her a red kerchief, pressing a blue one to his nose and mouth, and he nodded, speaking through the thin fabric.

"The more I cook it, the less we taste it," Luke prodded the revolting meat with his gold club. "Trust me," Luke's eyes shot her a pained look. "You'll thank me for this when we aren't attempting to puke out guts out."

"You sound like you've had experience," Thalia cautiously left her statement hanging. Grimacing, Luke ripped some red and white packets of salt over the meat. The fire turned from red to a greeny-blue colour for a couple of seconds.

The wind changed direction and Thalia removed the cloth from her face, blinking back the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes as the smoke whipped its way around the centre of the camp.

"I think some of the windbreaks have fallen down," Luke said, "I'll have to fix them up soon," finally pulling the wedge of ash encrusted meat from the flames, which immediately began to die down. Thalia chucked a couple of logs from the pile beside her into the flames, which caught on the sparks. Thalia saw Luke watching her from the corner of her eye and had to suppress a triumphant grin as she watched him nod in an impressed way.

Stifling a proud smile, Thalia accepted a paper plate with some charred remains of Luke's meat. Luke pulled a bottle of water from his bag, looked at it for a moment before shaking his head. "I'll be one minute," he promised, holding up one finger as if that would confirm his statement.

"One bolt of lightning," Thalia said seriously.

"I thought it was meant to be one _Mississippi_?" Luke questioned, half standing with his hands on his knees. Thalia shot him a scathing look.

"Daughter of Zeus, remember? Two bolts of lightning," Luke stood, nodded:

"Of course," then scampered off and before Thalia had even reached her tenth lightning bolt, appeared again and chucked her a can of Mountain Dew. "Think fast!" Luke shouted as the can fell towards her. Thalia grinned, popping the lid and raising her can to click it against Luke's before turning back to the sooty mess on her plate.

"Are you certain that this is, you know, _edible_?" Luke shrugged, selecting a slither of greyish flesh. Hesitantly, Thalia held a scrap of the scorched meat between her fingers and took a bite. It tasted of salt and smoke, nothing like the gruesome, slimy flavours she had been expecting. Laughing, Luke sipped some of his Mountain Dew.

"It's not so bad, is it?" Thalia nodded, her hunger suddenly erupting and roaring for food. Before she even registered the thought, she was stuffing her face with food.

_Thalia&Luke_

"Is this what it's always like?" asked Thalia, shivering slightly in the cold.

"Is 'what', what it's always like?" Luke responded. He lay on his back next to the dying fire, eyes almost shut. Peering through his half-closed lids, he traced out the patterns of constellations in the sky with a finger. Thalia's form was huddled to his left, smoke obscuring her almost completely. And yet, Luke could still see her face, frowning as she snapped a twig in half.

She snapped her twig in half again, and again.

"Being a proper demigod," Thalia said. "Is this what it's always like?"

There was a pause, where Luke thought over his answer.

"I…" Luke considered his reply again before deciding it made more sense than response number two. "I guess so…"

"You don't know?" challenged Thalia, eyes flashing.

Luke elected to reply honestly, "I didn't understand the question. I mean, you were – have always been – a proper demigod, right?"

"Right," Thalia confirmed with a nod of her head. "Right, but with you… it's different. It feels _real_, you know?" Luke couldn't say that he did know, but as Thalia had destroyed the ground on which he sat only a matter of hours ago he thought it best not to aggravate her _too_ much. He nodded:

"Yes… maybe," he stopped, "no."

Fixing him with a piercing glare, Thalia punched his shoulder. Considering that Luke was lying on the ground with a couple of rocks - or something else hard and sharp – having his body jarred hurt a lot more than Thalia probably intended.

"Have I told you how annoying you are?" asked Luke, rubbing his back.

"You have not answered my question," said Thalia amiably. "On the run, as a proper demigod – and by that I mean not having to hide who you are from your companions – is it always so…"

"Yes," Luke confirmed. With a small sigh Thalia laid back, hands resting on her stomach.

"I feared as much."


End file.
